[154] See Cohn, Zur Lehre vom versuchten und unvollendeten Verbrechen, i. 6 sqq.
[155] Stephen, op. cit. ii. 224.
[156] Code Pénal art. 3.
[157] Strafgesetzbuch, art. 43.
Again, should a person be punished for attempting to commit a crime in a manner in which success is physically impossible, as if he attempts to steal from a pocket which is empty, or puts into a cup pounded sugar which he believes to be arsenic? This question has given rise to a whole literature. Seneca’s statement that “he who mixes a sleeping draught, believing it to be poison, is a poisoner,”[158] seems to have had the support of Roman law.[159] In England, some time ago, the man who attempted to pick an empty pocket, was not held liable for an attempt to steal;[160] but this case has been overruled, and it appears now to be the law that an indictment would lie for such an attempt.[161] According to the French[162] and Italian[163] codes, it would not be punished, according to some German law-books, it would;[164] whilst the Strafgesetzbuch contains no special provisions for attempts of a similar character.
[158] Seneca, De beneficiis, v. 13. Cf. Idem, Ad Serenum, 7.
[159] Seeger, Versuch nach römischem Recht, p. 30.
[160] Stephen, op. cit. ii. 225.
[161] Harris, Principles of the Criminal Law, p. 209 n. c.
[162] Stephen, op. cit. ii. 225.