## Facts

- Bell entered the land of G. B. White without permission.
- Bell dug up sweet potatoes and cut heads of cabbage that were growing in the soil.
- Bell removed the vegetables immediately after severing them, as part of a single, uninterrupted course of conduct.
- The State prosecuted Bell for petty larceny on the theory that he wrongfully took and carried away White’s personal property.
- The trial court instructed the jury that larceny is the wrongful taking and carrying away of another’s personal property with intent to permanently deprive the owner.
- Bell was convicted of petty larceny and appealed, arguing the conduct was not larceny because the vegetables were part of the realty when taken.

## Issues

1. Whether crops growing in the ground constitute “personal property” capable of being stolen by larceny at the time they are severed from the land.
2. Whether severing crops from the soil and immediately carrying them away in one continuous transaction can satisfy the common-law elements of larceny.
3. Whether the conduct supports only a trespass rather than larceny when there is no separation in time between severance and asportation.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Tennessee reversed the larceny conviction.
- The court held that vegetables growing in the soil are part of the realty and are not personal property before severance.
- Where severance and carrying away occur as one continuous act, the property does not become personalty in the owner’s possession before the taking.
- On these facts, Bell’s conduct constituted trespass, not larceny.

## Legal Principles

- Common-law larceny requires a trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with intent to permanently deprive.
- Crops attached to land are part of the realty and are not “personal property” for larceny purposes until they are severed.
- If the wrongdoer severs an item from the land and later, in a separate act, carries it away after it has become personalty, the later taking can constitute larceny.
- If severance and asportation are part of a single continuous act, the offense is trespass to realty rather than larceny.

## Conclusion

The court reversed Bell’s petty larceny conviction because the vegetables, taken immediately upon severance in a single continuous act, never became personal property in a manner that could support larceny; the conduct was punishable, at most, as trespass.


Bell v. State, 63 Tenn. (4 Baxt.) 42 (Tenn. 1874)