The want of Criminal Reports has long been felt, both by the Bench and the Ba R Very few decisions in criminal cases have found their way into the Supreme Court ReportS This has been owing partly to the fact that, until very recently, there was no mode provided by law for reviewing a decision made against the Prosecution by a court of Oyer and Termi- ne R In such cases, therefore, the decisions made at the Oyer and Terminer were finaL But whether we regard such decisions as final, or as the adjudications of the highest courts of original criminal juris- diction in the state, all must concede the importance of obtaining authentic reports of well considered cases decided by those tribunalS Without such reports, uniformity of decision is hardly attainable, and little progress can be made in settling new questions, which are constantly arisinG With them, counsel can be saved much labor in investigating, and courts can have the benefit of the reasoning and delibe- rate judgment of other minds, upon the same questionS The necessity for such reports is as obvious and as urgent, as is that which has led, so universally, to the reporting of decisions in civil controversieS There is the same reason for reporting the opinions deli- vered by Justices of the Supreme Court, at Chambers, in criminal caseS Such opinions are generally prepared after full argument and are the result of deliberate and careful consideration.

It has been thought also, that it would greatly facilitate, the investigation of questions of criminal law, to collect to- gether, in the same volume, the decisions made at the Gen- eral Term, at Chambers and at the Oyer and Termine R The Reporter has had in view the accomplishment of these objectS He has been encouraged in this undertaking by his brethren upon the Bench, to whom, he takes this opportunity to acknowledge his obligations, for materials furnished In return, he hopes he shall be found to have contributed some- what to assist them in their researches and conclusions, by furnishing, if not the benefit of precedent and authority, at least, the advantage, as in consultation, of knowing the opinions of those of equal judicial responsibility.

If, in addition, the Reporter shall be found in this volume and in those which may follow, to have added to the fund of available legal learning, by preserving the reasoning and conclusions of those who preside in our highest criminal tri- bunals, and to have lessened, in some degree, the labors of those engaged in the legal profession, he shall feel that he has done something to facilitate the administration of justice, and shall have accomplished all he had ventured to antici- patE NOTE In addition to decisions made by the Justices of the Supreme Court, Ihis volume contains decisions made before the adoption of the present judiciary i) stem, by Hon.

Reuben Hyde Walworlh, as chancellor and circuit judge, and by Justices Willard, Parker and Edmonds, while acting as circuit judgeS The finder of property, who knows the owner, or has reason to believe who ke is, is bound to restore it, and is guilty of larceny, if he fraudulently con- verts it to his own usE The prisoner was indicted for grand larceny, in feloniously stealing a pocket book, containing one hundred dollars in mo- ney, the property of Alonzo Howland, on the first day of May 1839, at Stillwate R It appeared in evidence that the prosecutor, about five o'clock P M.

Of the first of May, went into a necessary, in the rear of Mr Lawrence's store, in Stillwater, on a call of nature, and laid his pocket book, containing $100, on the bench, and came out without iT In ten or fifteen minutes afterwards, he missed it, and went back after it, and it was gonE The necessary was on premises owned by the prosecutor, and was used by Mr Elmore, a shoemaker, who occupied a shop on the same pre- mises, and his handS The prisoner was a journeyman of Mr Elmore, and absconded the following night; was pursued to Albany and found with the pocket book in his possession, and a part of the money.