A.D. 732-766

a.d. 732-766, and referred to as a canonical rule in a capitulary of charlemagne, and it was finally established as a law of the church in the pontificate of gregory vii., c. 1085. authorities.--muratori, _dissert. de jejun. quat. temp._, c. vii., anecdot. tom. ii. p. 262; bingham, _antiq. of the christ. church_, bk. iv. ch. vi. s 6, bk. xxi. ch. ii. ss 1-7; binterin, _denkwurdigkeiten_, vol. v. part 2, pp. 133 ff.; augusti, _handbuch der christlich. archaol._ vol. i. p. 465, iii. p. 486. (e. v.) embezzlement (a.-fr. _embesilement_, from _beseler_ or _besillier_, to destroy), in english law, a peculiar form of theft, which is distinguished from the ordinary crime in two points:--(1) it is committed by a person who is in the position of clerk or servant to the owner of the property stolen; and (2) the property when stolen is in the possession of such clerk or servant. the definition of embezzlement as a special form of theft arose out of the difficulties caused by the legal doctrine that to constitute larceny the property must be taken out of the possession of the owner. servants and others were thus able to steal with impunity goods entrusted to them by their masters. a statute of henry viii. (1529) was passed to meet this case; and it enacted that it should be felony in servants to convert to their own use caskets, jewels, money, goods or chattels delivered to them by their masters. "this act," says sir j.f. stephen (_general view of the criminal law of england_), "assisted by certain subtleties according to which the possession of the servant was taken under particular circumstances to be the possession of the master, so that the servant by converting the goods to his own use took them out of his own possession _qua_ servant (which was his master's possession) and put them into his own possession _qua_ thief (which was a felony), was considered sufficient for practical purposes for more than 200 years." in 1799 a clerk who had converted to his own use a cheque paid across the counter to him by a customer of his master was held to be not guilty of felony; and in the same year an act was passed, which, meeting the difficulty in such cases, enacted that if any clerk or servant, or any person employed as clerk or servant, should, by virtue of such employment, receive or take into his possession any money, bonds, bills, &c., for or in the name or on account of his employers, and should fraudulently embezzle the same, every such offender should be deemed to have stolen the same. the same definition is substantially repeated in a consolidation act passed in 1827. numberless difficulties of interpretation arose under these acts, e.g. as to the meaning of "clerk or servant," as to the difference between theft and embezzlement, &c. the law now in force, or the larceny act 1861, defines the offence thus (section 68):--"whosoever, being a clerk or servant, or being employed for the purpose or in the capacity of a clerk or servant, shall fraudulently embezzle any chattel, money or valuable security which shall be delivered to or received or taken into possession by him for or in the name or on the account of his master or employer, or any part thereof, shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from his master or employer, although such chattel, money or security was not received into the possession of such master or employer otherwise than by the actual possession of his clerk, servant or other person so employed, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any time not exceeding fourteen years, and not less than three years," or imprisonment with or without hard labour for not more than two years. to constitute the offence thus described three things must concur:--(1) the offender must be a clerk or servant; (2) he must receive into his possession some chattel on behalf of his master; and (3) he must fraudulently embezzle the same. a clerk or servant has been defined to be a person bound either by an express contract of service or by conduct implying such a contract to obey the orders and submit to the control of his master in the transaction of the business which it is his duty as such clerk or servant to transact. (stephen's _digest of the criminal law_, art. 309.) the larceny act 1901, amending sections 75 and 76 of the larceny act 1861, also describes similar offences on the part of persons, not being clerks or servants, to which the name embezzlement is not uncommonly applied. the act makes the offence of fraudulently misappropriating property entrusted to a person by another, or received by him on behalf of another a misdemeanour punishable by penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years, or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years. so also trustees fraudulently disposing of trust property, and directors of companies fraudulently appropriating the company's property or keeping fraudulent accounts, or wilfully destroying books or publishing fraudulent statements, are misdemeanants punishable in the same way. in the united states the law of embezzlement is founded mainly on the english statute passed in 1799, but the statutes of most states are so framed that larceny includes embezzlement. the latter is sometimes denominated statutory larceny. the punishment varies in the different states, otherwise there is little substantive difference in the laws of the two countries. statutes have been passed in some states providing that one indicted for larceny may be convicted of embezzlement. but it is doubtful whether such statutes are valid where the constitution of the state provides that the accused must be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. (see also larceny.) emblem (gr. [greek: emblema], something put in or inserted, from [greek: emballein], to throw in), a word originally applied in greek and latin (_emblema_) to a raised or inlaid ornament on vases and other vessels, &c., and also to mosaic or tessellated work. it is in english confined to a symbolical representation of some object, particularly when used as a badge or heraldic device. emblements (from o. fr. _emblavence de bled_, i.e. corn sprung up above ground), a term applied in english law to the corn and other crops of the earth which are produced annually, not spontaneously, but by labour and industry. emblements belong therefore to the class of _fructus industriales_, or "industrial growing crops" (sale of goods act 1893, s 62). they include not only corn and grain of all kinds, but everything of an artificial and annual profit that is produced by labour and manuring, e.g. hemp, flax, hops, potatoes, artificial grasses like clover, but not fruit growing on trees, which come under the general rule _quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit_. emblements are included within the definition of goods in s. 62 of the sale of goods act 1893. where an estate of uncertain duration terminates unexpectedly by the death of the tenant, or some other event due to no fault of his own, the law gives to the personal representative the profits of crops of this nature as compensation for the tilling, manuring and sowing of the land. if the estate, although of uncertain duration, is determined by the tenant's own acts, the right to emblements does not arise. the right to emblements has become of no importance in england since 1851, when it was provided by the landlord and tenant act 1851 (s. 1) that any tenant at rack-rent, whose lease was determined by the death or cesser of the estate, of a landlord entitled only for his life, or for any other uncertain interest, shall, instead of emblements, be entitled to hold the lands until the expiration of the current year of his tenancy. the right to emblements still exists, however, in favour of (a) a tenant not within the landlord and tenant act 1851, whose estate determines by an event which could not be foreseen, (b) the executor, as against the heir of the owner in fee of land in his own occupation, (c) an execution creditor under a writ directing seizure of goods and chattels. a person entitled to emblements may enter upon the lands after the determination of the tenancy for the purpose of cutting and carrying away the crops. emblements are liable to distress by the landlord for arrears of rent, or rent during the period of holding on under the act of 1851 (the distress for rent act 1737; see bullen on _distress_, 4th ed., 1893). the term "emblements" is unknown in _scots law_, but the heir or representative of a life-rent tenant, a liferenter of lands, has an analogous right to reap the crop (on paying a proportion of the rent) and a right to recompense for labour in tilling the ground. the landlord and tenant act 1851 (s. 1) was in force in _ireland_ till 1860, when it was replaced by the land act 1860, which gave to the tenant an almost identical right to emblements (s. 34). in the _united states_ the english common law of emblements has been generally preserved. in north carolina there has been legislation on the lines of the english landlord and tenant act 1851. in some states the tenant is entitled to compensation also from the person succeeding to the possession. under the french code civil, the outgoing tenant is entitled to convenient housing for the consumption of his fodder and for the harvests remaining to be got in (art. 1777). the same rule is in force in belgium (code civil, art. 1777); and in holland (civil code, art. 1635) and spain (art. 1578). similar rights are secured to the tenant under the german civil code (arts. 592 et seq.). french law is in force in mauritius. the common law of england and the landlord and tenant act 1851 (14 & 15 vict., c. 25, s. 1) are in force in many of the british colonies acquired by settlement. in other colonies they have been recognized by statute (e.g. victoria, landlord and tenant act 1890, no. 1108, ss. 45-48: tasmania, landlord and tenant act 1874, 38 vict. no. 12). authorities.--english law: fawcett on the _law of landlord and tenant_ (3rd ed., london, 1905); foa, _landlord and tenant_ (4th ed., london, 1907). scots law: bell's _principles_ (10th ed., edinburgh, 1899). irish law: noland and kanes, _statutes relating to the law of landlord and tenant in ireland_ (10th ed.), by kelly (dublin, 1898). american law: stimson, _american statute law_ (boston, 1886); bouvier, _law dictionary_, ed. by rawle (boston and london, 1897); _ruling cases_ (london and boston, 1894-1901), tit. "emblements" (american notes). (a. w. r.)