Case Name: The State vs. John Bennet
Court: Constitutional Court of South Carolina
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1815-01
Citations: 2 Tread 693
Docket Number: 
Parties: The State vs. John Bennet.
Judges: Justices Smith, Brevard and Grimke concurred.
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 7
Pages: 693–693

Head Matter:
CHARLESTON,
January Term, 1815.
The State vs. John Bennet.
Larceny.

Opinion:
Nott, J.
The only question in this case, in addition to the one taken in the first case, is, whether the jury can find a person guilty of petit larceny, where the property stolen is proved to be of greater value than twelve pence. However absurd it may appear, that a jury who are sworn to determine a case according to evidence, should be authorised to find goods stolen of less value than twelve pence, when all the witnesses swear they are of much greater value; it is what Judge Blathstone calls a pious perjury, which they have been indulged in until it has become the law of the land. The prin-eiple has been too long established to be now called in question, and, therefore, a new trial must be refused.
Justices Smith, Brevard and Grimke concurred.