swindling

The acquisition of property or an instrument representing a valuable right by means of some device or fraudulent representation with intent to appropriate such property or instrument or to destroy or impair the right of the owner therein. 32 Am J2d False P § 2. As the words "swindling" and "cheating" are ordinarily used, they import a fraudulent causing of pecuniary or property loss. See United States v Cohn, 270 US 339, 346, 70 L Ed 616, 619, 46 S Ct 251. The word is of German origin and of indefinite meaning. It does not import an indictable offense and is held to mean no more than the word "cheating," which does not impute a crime. Stevenson v Hayden, 2 Mass (2 Tyng) 406, 408. The word has no legal or technical meaning, but it commonly implies that there has been recourse to petty and mean artifices for obtaining money, which may or may not be strictly illegal. The disappointed and vexed creditor not infrequently will apply the term "swindler" to a delinquent debtor, and an absconding debtor is not infrequently spoken of as having swindled his creditors. Hence the word does not per se import a crime. Cunningham v Baker, 104 Ala 160, 171, 16 So 68.