session, (without such excuse,) any frames, mould, plates, paper, &c., used in making bank-notes, or any paper with the name of any bank visible on the substance thereof (u).

The punishment of forging, uttering and the like at common law, and as a mere misdemeanor, was fine, imprisonment and pillory; but in the cases in which it was made by statute felonious, it was at one time deemed necessary also to inflict on the offender the extreme penalty of death. Capital punishment, however,-having been previously abolished, with regard to many cases of forgery, by 11 Geo. IV. & 1 Will. IV. c. 66, and 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 123,-was altogether taken away, as a punishment for this offence, by 7 Will. IV. & 1 Vict. c. 84 (x). And now (under the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, above referred to) the felon convicted of any of the forgeries provided against by that Act, is liable to penal servitude for life, fourteen, seven or three years (varying with regard to the different documents mentioned in the Act); or else (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for not more than two years, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement (y).

The same statute of 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, contains enact

(u) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, ss. 14, 18,

fourteen years.

(x) It remained a capital offence, till the Act last mentioned, to forge a will or testamentary writing, a power of attorney, or other authority to transfer stock or receive dividends; and certain other instruments. (See 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 123; 5 & 6 Will. 4, cc. 45, 51.)

(y) By the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, the different forgeries under that Act are made thus punishable :(sect. 1) forging, &c., the Seals, (extreme of sentence by way of penal servitude), life; (sect. 2) stock transfers or powers of attorney, life;

(sect. 4) attestation of stock transfers or powers of attorney, seven years; (sect. 5) entries in the books of the Bank of England or Ireland, life; (sect. 7) India bonds, life; (sect. 8) exchequer bills, bonds, &c., life; (sect. 12) bank notes, life; (sect. 20) deeds life; (sect. 21) wills, life; (sect. 22) bills of exchange or promissory notes, life; (sect. 23) orders, receipts, &c. for money, life; (sect. 26) debentures, fourteen years; (sect. 27) records or proceedings of courts, seven years; (sect. 28) copies or certificates of records, &c., or process, seven years; (sect. 29) instruments made evidence by act of par

ments against other practices connected with, or aiding the perpetration of, the crime of forgery; which in most cases are made felonies, and punishable with penal servitude or imprisonment. Of these our limits will not allow us to give a complete enumeration, but they comprise the following: —making paper, &c., in imitation of that used for exchequer bills or bonds (a);—purchasing forged notes, bank paper or bills (b);-making or engraving plates, moulds, &c., for bank notes (c);-accepting bills, notes, &c., without authority, with intent to defraud (d);-obliterating or altering marks on cheques or drafts, signifying they are to be paid through a banker (e);-falsely acknowledging recognizances or bail (ƒ);-destroying or making false entries in registers (g);—and demanding (with intent to defraud) property on any forged instruments (h).

It has also recently been made (by 25 & 26 Vict. c. 88) a misdemeanor, fraudulently to forge or counterfeit any trade mark lawfully used by any other person to denote that any chattel or thing is of his own manufacture or merchandize, or in respect of which he has any copyright (i); and such offence (besides the forfeiture of the articles impressed with such forged or counterfeited marks) is made punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both. If imprisonment is awarded, it may be to the extent of two years, with or without hard labour (k).

liament, seven years; (sect. 30) court rolls relating to copyholds, life; (sect. 31) registers of deeds, fourteen years; (sect. 32) orders of justices of the peace, three years; (sect. 33) certificates, &c. of accountant-general, &c. fourteen years; (sect. 35) marriage licences, seven years; (sects. 36, 37) registers of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, or burials, life. In all of the above forgeries, however, punishment by way of imprisonment instead of penal servitude, may be awarded at the discretion of the court; and such im

prisonment may be to the extent of
two years, and with or without hard
labour and solitary confinement.

(a) Sects. 9, 10, seven years.
(b) Sect. 13, fourteen years.
(c) Sects. 14-19, fourteen years.
(d) Sect. 24, fourteen years.
(e) Sect. 25, life.

(f) Sect. 34, sev n years.
(g) Sects. 36, 37, life.

(h) Sect. 38, fourteen years.

(i) As to what is included under this term, for the purposes of the Act, see sect. 1.

(k) 25 & 26 Vict. c. 88, s. 14.

IV. Obtaining property by false personation (1). Frauds of this description were indictable, at common law, as misdemeanors, and punishable by fine and imprisonment (m), but are now also made penal by the express provision of acts of parliament. By these statutes, to personate any soldier, in order fraudulently to receive his pay, pension, prize money, or wages, is felony; and punishable with imprisonment to the extent of two years (with or without hard labour), or by penal servitude for life or not less than three years (n). Again to personate (with a like fraudulent intention), any seaman or marine (o); or falsely and deceitfully to personate any owner of any share or interest in stock of the Bank of England or Ireland, or of any corporation or society established by charter or act of parliament; or any owner of any dividend payable in respect thereof:-and thereby to endeavour to transfer the share or receive money due to the true owner, are, all of them, felonies, and make the offender liable to the punishments above specified (p).

V. Obtaining property by false pretences. This offence, which, like the last, is closely allied to larceny, though distinguishable from it as being perpetrated through the medium of a mere fraud,-was likewise a misdemeanor, at common law, punishable by fine and imprisonment; And now, by statute, whosoever shall, by any false pretence; obtain from any other person any chattel, money or valuable security (q), with intent to cheat or defraud any person of

(1) By 22 & 23 Vict. c. 17, no indictment for this offence shall be presented to or found by the grand jury, without security given for the due prosecution of the charge, unless the prosecution be directed by a judge, &c.

(m) 2 East, P. C. c. xx. s. 5.

(n) 7 Geo. 4, c. 16, s. 38; 2 Will. 4, c. 53, s. 49; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 24, s. 1; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99;

20 & 21 Vict. c. 3. By 2 Will. 4, c. 33, s. 49, a provision similar to that mentioned in the text, contained in 5 Geo. 4, c. 107, is repealed.

(0) See 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4, c. 20, s. 84; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 24, s. 1; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 8.

(p) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 3.
(4) As to what is considered as

the same,-shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be liable to penal servitude for three years; or he may be punished by imprisonment not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement (r). There is also a provision, that if, upon the trial of any person indicted for such misdemeanor, it shall be proved that he obtained the property in question in any such manner as to amount in law to larceny, he shall not by reason thereof be entitled to be acquitted of such misdemeanor (s); and further, that the same penalties shall attach to whomsoever shall, with intent to defraud or injure any person by any false pretence, fraudulently cause or induce any other person to execute, make, accept, endorse or destroy the whole or any part of, any valuable security; or to write or affix his other person or persons, or the seal name, or that of any of any corporation or society, upon any paper or parchment, in order that the same may be made or converted into a valuable security (t).

VI. Fraudulent concealment of deeds, or falsification of pedigree. By 22 & 23 Vict. c. 35, s. 24 (amended by 23 & 24 Vict. c. 38, s. 8), any seller or mortgagor of land, or of any chattels real or personal, or choses in action conveyed or assigned to a purchaser or mortgagee—or any solicitor or agent of such seller or morgagor,-who shall cancel any settlement, deed, will, or other instrument material to the title, or conceal any incumbrance from the

a false pretence, see the following cases: R. v. Crossley, 2 M. & Rob.

17; R. v. Ady, 7 Car. & P. 140; R. v. Asterley, ibid. 191; R. v. Williams, ibid. 354; R. v. Barnard, ibid. 784; R. v. Masterton, 2 Cox's Cr. C. 100; Reg. v. Sherwood, 26 L. J., M. C. 81; the Queen v. Goss, 29 L. J., M. C. 86. As to the term valuable security, see Reg. v. Greenhalgh, 1 Dearsley's C. C. R. 267 ; R. v. Danger, 5 W. R. (C. C. R.)

purchaser or mortgagee, or falsify any pedigree upon which the title does or may depend, in order to induce him to accept the title offered or produced to him, with intent in any of such cases to defraud, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable with fine or with imprisonment not exceeding two years, (with or without hard labour,) or by both. But no prosecution shall be commenced without the sanction of the attorney-general, (or if that office be vacant, solicitor-general,) nor without previous notice to the person intended to be prosecuted.