People v. Caridis - 29 Cal. App. 166 (Dist. Ct. App. 1915)

Rule:

An obligation which exists in defiance of a law which denounces it has, in the eye of the law, neither validity nor value. 

Facts:

The information stated that Antonio Caridis had taken a lottery ticket that belonged to a company. After a drawing held by the company, it stated that it would pay the holder of the ticket a certain amount of money. Caridis collected the money for the ticket. The ticket belonged to someone else. Caridis was charged with the crime of grand larceny.

Issue:

Did the wrongful taking of the lottery ticket in question constitute the crime of grand larceny?

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

The court held that the information was framed to fit the requirements of Cal. Penal Code § 492. The court found that the ticket had no relative value although it was the evidence of a debt due from an enterprise that was denounced by law and that apparently existed and was conducted by its promoters in defiance of the law. Further, the court ruled that an obligation that existed in defiance of a law that denounces it had neither validity nor value. The court indicated that the fact that Caridis collected money from the company added nothing to the validity or value of the ticket. The court concluded that although considered as a mere piece of paper, the ticket possessed perhaps some slight intrinsic value and would have been sufficient to make the wrongful taking of it petit larceny.