(A) See eminent domain. (B) crim. torts. The act of laying hold upon an article, with or without removing the same; a felonious taking is not sufficient without a carrying away, to constitute the crime of larceny. And when the taking has been legal, no subsequent act will make it a crime. 2. The taking is either actual or constructive. The former is when the thief takes, without any pretence of a contract, the property in question. 3. A constructive felonious taking occurs when, under pretence of a contract, the thief obtains the felonious possession of goods; as, when under the pretence of hiring, he had a felonious intention at the time of the pretended contract, to convert the property to his own use. (C) In criminal law and torts. The act of laying hold upon an article, with or without removing the same.