You Can't Steal from Yourself? You Can't Steal From Your Partners?
How many partners believe that it is a crime to steal from the partnership? Almost all of them I would guess. In a very unusual case reported by The Unincorporated Business Professor Blog, a partner was charged with larceny of partnership property. The court reasoned, using Massachusetts law, that since a partner is the co-owner of the partnership property, the taking can't be larceny.
The reasoning in this ruling is logical, but also contrary to the normal and usual understanding of the character of property belonging to a partnership. The report specifies that Massachusetts uses the UPA and not the RUPA. The ruling doesn't mention what civil responsibility the bad partners might be subjected to, and at a minimum the bad partner violated his fiduciary duty to the other partners and the partnership.
Do partners normally believe that the "theft" of the assets from the partnership would be a crime? Or, do partners believe the opposite? Clearly this is another good reason to avoid partnerships, at least in Massachusetts. If you take this decision to a logical conclusion, joint ventures are a form of partnership. When two corporates combine for a joint venture, can one take all the joint venture property without criminal sanction? It would appear so.
Sounds wacky, but as you noted there are ample civil remedies available.
Which is how this sort of situation is normally resolved. In the absence of raiding the partnership wholesale and/or intentionally deceiving partners, most district attorneys won't prosecute -- they'll tell you to sue!