| a. | 1. | Apt to take; alluring; attracting. |
| 2. | Infectious; contageous. | |
| n. | 1. | The act of gaining possession; a seizing; seizure; apprehension. |
| 2. | Agitation; excitement; distress of mind. | |
| 3. | Malign influence; infection. |
| Noun | 1. | taking - the act of someone who picks up or takes something; "the pickings were easy"; "clothing could be had for the taking" Synonyms: pickings |
| Adj. | 1. | taking - very attractive; capturing interest; "a fetching new hairstyle"; "something inexpressibly taking in his manner"; "a winning personality" |
TAKING, crim. torts. The act of laying hold upon an article, with or without
removing the same; a felonious taking is not sufficient without a carrying
away, to constitute the crime of larceny. (q.v.) And when the taking has
been legal, no subsequent act will make it a crime. 1 Moody, Cr. Cas. 160.
2. The taking is either actual or constructive. The former is when the
thief takes, without any pretence of a contract, the property in question.
3. A constructive felonious taking occurs when, under pretence of a
contract, the thief obtains the felonious possession of goods; as, when
under the pretence of hiring, he had a felonious intention at the time of
the pretended contract, to convert the property to his own use. The court of
criminal sessions for the city and county of Philadelphia have decided that
in the case of a man who found a quantity of lumber, commonly called a raft,
floating on the river Delaware and fastened to the shore, and sold it, to
another person, at so low a price. as to enable the purchaser to remove it,
and did no other act himself, but afterwards the purchaser removed it, that
this was a taking by the thief, and he was actually convicted and sentenced
to two years imprisonment in the penitentiary. Hill's case, Aug. Sessions,
1838. It cannot be doubted, says Pothier, Contr. de Vente, n. 271, that by
selling and delivering a thing which he knows does not belong to him, the
party is guilty of theft.
4. When property is left through inadvertence with a person and he
conceals it animo furandi, he is guilty of a felonious taking and may be
convicted of larceny. 17 Wend. 460.
5. But when the owner parts with the property willingly, under an
agreement that he is never to receive the style identical property, the
taking is not felonious; as, when a person delivered to the defendant a
sovereign to get it changed, and the defendant never returned either with
the sovereign or the change, this was not larceny. 9 C. & P. 741. See 1
Moody, C. C. 179; Id. 185; 1 Hill. R. 94; 2 Bos. & P. 508; 2 East, P. C.
554; 1 Hawk. c. 33, s. 8; 1 Hale, P. C. 507; 3 Inst. 408; and Carrying away;
Finder; Invito Domino; Larceny; Robbery.
6. The wrongful taking of the personal property of another, when in his
actual possession, or such taking of the goods of another who, has the right
of immediate possession, subject the tort feasor to an action. For example,
such wrongful taking will be evidence of a conversion, and an action of
trover may be maintained. 2 Saund. 47, h.t.; 3 Willes, 55. Trespass is a
concurrent remedy in such a case. 3 Wils. 336. Replevin may be supported by
the unlawful taking of a personal chattel. 1 Chit. Pl. 158. Vide Bouv. Inst.
Index, h.t.