The following are the various definitions of theft given by the jurists: "By theft is meant every illegal usurpation of the property of others."[31]--"By theft is meant every fraudulent carrying off for gain a thing belonging to others."[32] Finally our Code declares that, "whosoever has fraudulently carried off anything that does not belong to him, is guilty of theft." (Penal Code, Art. 379.) It takes, then, three elements to constitute theft: 1, _carrying off_; 2, _fraud_; 3, _the thing of another_. Two kinds of theft are distinguished: the _simple_ thefts and the _qualified_ thefts. The first are those in which are met the three preceding elements, but without any further aggravating circumstance. The second (qualified thefts) are those which to the three preceding elements add some aggravating circumstances. These circumstances are: 1, the quality of the agents (servants, inn-keepers, drivers or boatmen). It is clear that this is an aggravating circumstance by reason of the facility given by the more intimate relations in which they stand with the injured persons, and the greater confidence these are obliged to grant them. 2. _Times_ and _places_.--For example, thefts committed by night are more grave than those committed by day, because it is more difficult to anticipate them, to catch their perpetrators, and because they place the injured person in greater danger. The places that aggravate theft are: 1, _the fields_; 2, _inhabited houses_; 3, _edifices_ consecrated to divine worship; 4, _highways_, etc. It is easy to understand why these different places aggravate the crime by rendering it more easy. 3. _Circumstances of execution_, as for example: 1, theft committed by _several_ persons; 2, theft by _breaking open_; 3, theft with an _armed_ hand, etc. In a word, theft becomes greater in proportion to the difficulty of forestalling it, and its menacing character. One particular form of theft is _swindling_. Swindling is a sort of theft, since it is a fraudulent appropriation of the thing of another. But it is characterized by the fact that it does not take place through violence, but through cunning, and in deceiving the victim by fraudulent maneuvers; for instance, in making him believe in the existence of false enterprises, in an imaginary power or credit, in calling forth the hope and fear of a chimerical event, etc. _Embezzlement_ is a sort of swindling, with this difference, that "if the criminal has betrayed the confidence which has been placed in him, he has not solicited this confidence by criminal maneuvers." Among these may be classed: 1, taking improper advantage of the wants of a minor; 2, misuse of letters of confidence; 3, embezzlement of trusts; 4, the abstraction of documents produced in court. We have to point out still several other kinds of theft: for example, theft at _gambling_ or _cheating_; theft of public moneys or peculation, etc.