In law, breaking bulk is the act of removing something from a package or parcel, or in any way destroying its entirety. It was thus important in connection with the subject of
bailment
Bailment is a legal relationship in common law, where the owner of personal property ("chattel") transfers physical possession of that property to another, who holds the property for a certain purpose, but retains ownership. The owner who sur ...
, involving as it did the curious distinction that where a bailee received possession of goods in a box or package, and then sold them as a whole, he was guilty only of a breach of trust, but if he "broke bulk" or caused a separation of the goods, and sold a part or all, he was guilty of
felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...
. This distinction was abolished by the
Larceny Act 1861
The Larceny Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it then was) that consolidated provisions related to larceny and similar offences from a number of earlier statutes ...
, which enacted that whoever, being a bailee of any
chattel
Chattel may refer to:
* Chattel, an alternative name for tangible personal property
* A chattel house, a type of West Indian dwelling
* A chattel mortgage, a security interest over tangible personal property
* Chattel slavery, the most extreme for ...
, money or valuable security, should fraudulently take or convert the same to his own use, or the use of any person other than the owner, although he should not break bulk or otherwise determine the bailment, should be guilty of
larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
(s. 3).
Breaking bulk may be used for bulk material ordered broken up in part shipment and shipped to location in different cargo.
See also
*
Inchoate crime
An inchoate offense, preliminary crime, inchoate crime or incomplete crime is a crime of preparing for or seeking to commit another crime. The most common example of an inchoate offense is "attempt". "Inchoate offense" has been defined as the fol ...
*
Embezzlement
Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
*
Package pilferage
Package pilferage is the theft of part of the contents of a package. It may also include theft of the contents but leaving the package, perhaps resealed with bogus contents. Small packages can be pilfered from a larger package such as a shippi ...
References
{{reflist
*Marc Levinson, ''
The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger'' (Princeton Univ. Press 2006).
Bulk material handling
Theft
Property law