The criminal laws were of extreme severity, even petty theft being punished by the thief being enslaved to the person he had robbed, while to steal a tobacco pouch or twenty ears of corn was death; he who pilfered in the market was then and there beaten to death, and he who insulted Xipe, the god of the goldand silversmiths, by stealing his precious metal, was skinned alive and sacrificed to the offended deity.
Like the small time crooks he was to feature in his films, he supported himself by petty theft.
Since then we have experienced a spate of petty theft.
Discussion work includes the effects of shoplifting, petty theft and other issues relevant to individual schools.
