Odger's English Common Law

332 ROBBERY AND PIRACY.
(v.) that he so obtained them against the will of the
prosecutor by means of actual violence or by reason of the
fear of violence inspired by his conduct, and
(vi.) that he intended to deprive the prosecutor perman-
ently of all the benefits of his ownership.
(i.) To constitute robbery there must be violence or a reason-
able apprehension of violence at the time the goods are taken
or extorted. It is enough if the prisoner's conduct is such as
to inspire fear of violence in the mind of a person of ordinary
firmness and courage. If violence be actually used, the pro-
secution need not prove that the prisoner's conduct was such
as to inspire fear in any reasonable person. If the only
violence used occurs accidentally and unintentionally in the
prisoner's efforts to obtain possession of the property, the
offence is larceny from the person and not robbery. But if
violence is necessary to enable the prisoner to obtain posses-
sion of the property, and the prisoner on discovering this
intentionally resorts to violence with that object, this is
robbery.
Thus, the snatching of a purse from a prosecutor, who is unaware of
what is happening until after the purse has gone from his possession,
cannot amount to robbery ; but it will be otherwise if the prisoner does
something to put the prosecutor in bodily fear before snatching the purse,
for here the fear precedes the taking. 1
So, if the prisoner obtains possession of the property without actual
violence or threats of violence, the crime is only larceny from the person
unless the prisoner immediately after taking possession of the property uses
personal violence.
Again, where the prisoner seized the prosecutor's watch and, on finding
that it was secured by a chain round his neck, violently pulled and
jerked it till it broke, and then ran away with the watch, this was held to
amount to robbery. 2
(ii.) The prosecution must prove that the violence or threats
of violence used by the prisoner were used with the intention
of gaining possession or of compelling the prosecutor to give
up possession of the goods. A merely accidental or unin-
1 B. v. Harman (1620), 1 Hale, P. C. 534.
2 S. v. Mason (1820), B. & B. 419.