People v. Fong Hong

Citations

• 120 Cal. 685
• 53 P. 265
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 834

Syllabus

<p>Ceiminal Law—Abson—License of Owneb—Occupation by Othebs.—Where it appears by pleading and proof that the building burned by a defendant convicted of arson was occupied by third parties, the defendant cannot urge a presumed license from the owner to burn the building, the owner himself having no right to burn it in such case, nor to give anyone a license to do so.</p> <p>Id.—Intent to Defbaud Insubanoe Company—Motive of Abson Immatebiad.—The fact that defendant may have burned the building with intent to defraud an insurance company, and thus have laid himself liable to a prosecution under section 548 of the Penal Code, does not require that he be prosecuted under that section, nor change the character of the crime of arson, of which the defendant may be convicted, where the facts constitute that offense, regardless of the motive for which the arson was committed.</p> <p>Id.—Instbuction—Intent to Destboy Building.—An instruction that “arson is the willful and malicious burning of the building with intent to destroy it,” and that “there must be, to constitute the crime of arson, a willful and malicious burning of the building, and, as contained in the definition of the crime, there must exist an intent to destroy it,” is sufficiently full upon the subject of intent.</p>