embezzlement 的詞源

"將委託給自己或屬於僱主的資金盜竊或挪用"，1540年代，來自 embezzle + -ment。早期的名詞是 embezzling（15世紀早期）。

[I]n English law, a peculiar form of theft, which is distinguished from the ordinary crime in two points:— (1) It is committed by a person who is in the position of clerk or servant to the owner of the property stolen; and (2) the property when stolen is in the possession of such clerk or servant. The definition of embezzlement as a special form of theft arose out of the difficulties caused by the legal doctrine that to constitute larceny the property must be taken out of the possession of the owner. Servants and others were thus able to steal with impunity goods entrusted to them by their masters. A statute of Henry VIII. (1529) was passed to meet this case; and it enacted that it should be felony in servants to convert to their own use caskets, jewels, money, goods or chattels delivered to them by their masters. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910]

在英國法律中，這是一種特殊的盜竊形式，與普通犯罪有兩個不同之處：（1）它是由處於財產所有者職位的職員或僕人犯下的； （2）當財產被盜竊時，它在這樣的職員或僕人的掌握中。將挪用罪定義爲盜竊的一種特殊形式，是由於法律學說造成的困難，即構成盜竊必須將財產從所有者的掌握中取出。僕人和其他人因此能夠安然無恙地盜竊由主人委託給他們的貨物。亨利八世的一項法令（1529年）就是爲了解決這個問題； 它規定，僕人將主人交付給他們的盒子、珠寶、錢財、貨物或動產挪用爲自己的行爲應被定爲重罪。[ Encyclopaedia Britannica，1910]