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action conveyed or assigned to a purchaser, 1 or mortgagee, or, being the solicitor or agent of any such seller or mortgagor, conceals from the purchaser any settlement, deed, will, or other instrument material to the title, or any incumbrance, or falsifies any pedigree on which the title does or may depend,

in order to induce him to accept the title offered or produced to him, and with intent to defraud.

ARTICLE 336.

CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD OR EXTORT.

Every one commits the misdemeanor of conspiracy who agrees with any other person or persons to do any act with intent to defraud the public, or any particular person, or class of persons, or to extort from any person any money or goods. Such a conspiracy may be criminal although the act agreed upon is not in itself a crime.

2 An offender convicted of this offence may be sentenced to hard labour.

Illustrations.

The following are instances of conspiracies with intent to defraud:-
A conspiracy to defraud the public by a mock auction.

* A conspiracy to raise the price of the funds by false rumours.

A conspiracy to defraud the public by issuing bills in the name of a fictitious bank.

A conspiracy to induce a person to buy horses by falsely alleging that they were the property of a private person and not of a horse dealer.

7 A conspiracy to induce a man to take a lower price than that for which he had sold a horse, by representing that it had been discovered to be unsound and re-sold for less than had been given for it.

1 22 & 23 Vict. c. 35, s. 24. The words For mortgagee" were added by 23 & 24 Vict. c. 38, s. 8.

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1 A conspiracy to defraud a partner by false accounts, the fraud not being in itself criminal when it was committed.

A conspiracy to defraud generally by getting a settling day for shares of a new company.

ARTICLE 337.

PRETENDING TO EXERCISE WITCHCRAFT.

3 Every one commits a misdemeanor and must, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned for a year, and may be obliged to give sureties for his good behaviour in such sum and for such time as the Court thinks fit, who pretends to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, or undertakes to tell fortunes, or pretends from his skill or knowledge in any occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner any goods or chattels supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found.

ARTICLE 338.

CHEATING.

Every one commits the misdemeanor called cheating, who fraudulently obtains the property of another by any deceitful practice not amounting to felony, which practice is of such a nature that it directly affects, or may directly affect, the public at large. But it is not cheating within the meaning of this Article to deceive any person in any contract or private dealing by lies unaccompanied by such practices as aforesaid.

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Mlustrations.

(1.) The following are instances of cheating :

Selling by a false weight or measure even to a single person.

5 Selling clothing with the alnager's scal forged upon it.

1 R. v. Warburton, L. R. 1 C. C. R. 274.

2 R. v. Aspinall, L. R. 1 Q. B. D. 730.

39 Geo. 2, c. 5, s. 4. The offender was also to be pilloried every quarter for an hour in a market town on a market day, but the pillory is abolished by 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 23. Would it be a good defence to an indictment for this offence to prove that the defendant not only "pretended," but actually practised witchcraft? As to witchcraft, see 2 Hist. Cr. Law, 430-6.

4 R. v. Young, 3 T. R. 104.

52 Russ. Cr. 609.

1 Selling a picture by means of an imitation of the name of a well-known artist inscribed upon it.

2 Maiming oneself in order to have a pretext for begging.

3 Selling unwholesome bread as if it were wholesome.

(2.) The following cases are instances of frauds not amounting to cheating:

Delivering short weight of bread, no false weights or tokens being used. Receiving barley to grind and delivering a mixture of oat and barley

meal.

"Selling as a Winchester bushel a sack of corn which is not a Winchester bushel, but greatly deficient.

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ARTICLE 339.

SERVANTS FEEDING HORSES, ETC., AGAINST ORDERS.

Every servant commits a misdemeanor, and is liable upon summary conviction thereof before two justices of the peace, as a maximum punishment, to three months imprisonment and hard labour or to a fine of £5, and in default of payment before a time to be fixed by the justices, to imprisonment with hard labour for three months, unless the fine is sooner paid,

who, contrary to the orders of his master, takes from his possession any corn, pulse, roots, or other food, for the purpose of giving the same or having the same given to any horse or other animal belonging to or in the possession of his master. But the commission of such an offence does not amount to larceny, notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained.

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ARTICLE 340.

FRADULENTLY CONCEALING ORE.

Every one commits felony and is liable upon conviction

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24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 39, S. Re-enacting earlier provisions. Passed in consequence of decision in R. v. Webb, 1 Moo. 431.

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thereof to a maximum punishment of two years imprisonment and hard labour,

who, being employed in or about any mine, takes, removes, or conceals any ore of any metal, or any lapis calaminaris, manganese, mundick, or other mineral found, or being in such mine with intent to defraud any proprietor of, or any adventurer in, any such mine, or any workman or miner employed therein.

ARTICLE 341.

TAKING MARKS FROM PUBLIC STORES.

1 Every one commits felony, and is liable upon conviction thereof to a maximum punishment of seven years penal servitude,

who, with intent to conceal Her Majesty's property in any stores under the care, superintendence, or control of a Secretary of State, or the Admiralty, or any public department or office, or of any person in the service of Her Majesty, takes out, destroys, or obliterates wholly or in part any mark described in the 1st schedule to the Public Stores Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 25), or any mark whatsoever denoting the property of Her Majesty in any stores.

ARTICLE 342.

CONCEALING TREASURE TROVE.

2 Every one commits a misdemeanor who conceals from the knowledge of our Lady the Queen the finding of any treasure, that is to say, of any gold or silver in coin, plate, or bullion hidden in ancient times, and in which no person can shew any property. It is immaterial whether the offender found such treasure himself or received it from a person who found it, but was ignorant of its nature.

38 & 39 Vict. c. 25, s. 5. The same Act contains many offences punishable on summary conviction too special to be inserted here.

2 3rd Inst. 132. And see R. v. Thomas, L. & C. 313.

CHAPTER XLI.

1 FRAUDS BY AGENTS, TRUSTEES, AND OFFICERS OF PUBLIC COMPANIES-FALSE ACCOUNTING.

ARTICLE 343.

PUNISHMENT OF MISDEMEANORS IN THIS CHAPTER.

EVERY one who commits any of the misdemeanors defined in this chapter is liable, upon conviction thereof, to a maximum punishment of seven years penal servitude.

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2 In this chapter the word "misappropriate" means converting any of the things in respect of which the offences defined in it are committed to the use or benefit of the offender, or to the use or benefit of any person other than the person by whom the offender was intrusted therewith. In regard to each of the offences defined in Articles 345, 346, and 347, it is immaterial whether the offender was intrusted with the thing in respect of which the offence was committed solely, or jointly with any other person.

3 ARTICLE 345.

MISAPPROPRIATIONS BY BANKERS, MERCHANTS, ETC. Every banker, merchant, broker, solicitor, or other agent commits a misdemeanor,

(a.) who, having been intrusted as such with any money or security for the payment of money, with any direction in writing to apply, pay, or deliver such money or security or

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13 Hist. Crim. Law, 150-160.

2 This Article is simply a drafting abridgment from the sections referred to in the following Articles.

324 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 75, S.

As to what amounts to a direction in writing, see R. v. Christian, L. R. 2 C. C. R. 94.

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