person who commits any such offence is liable to be convicted thereof by any evidence whatever in respect of any act done by him, if, previously to being charged with such offence, he first discloses such act on oath in consequence of any compulsory process of any Court which, on the 6th May, 1861, was a court of law or equity, in any action, suit, or proceeding bonâ fide instituted by any party aggrieved, or if he first discloses same in any examination or deposition before any Court upon the hearing of any matter in bankruptcy or insolvency (p).

"Valuable security" includes any order, exchequer acquittance, or other security whatsoever entitling or evidencing the title of any person or body corporate to any share or interest in any public stock or fund, whether of the United Kingdom, or of Great Britain, or of Ireland, or of any foreign State, or in any fund of any body corporate, company, or society, whether within the United Kingdom or in any foreign State or country, or to any deposit in any bank, and shall also include any debenture, deed, bond, bill, note, warrant, order, or other security whatsoever for money or for payment of money, whether of the United Kingdom, or of Great Britain, or of Ireland, or of any. foreign State, and any document of title to lands or goods (4).

"Document of title to lands" includes any deed, map, paper, or parchment written or printed, or partly written and partly printed, being or containing evidence of the title, or any part of the title, to any real estate, or to any interest in or out of any real estate.

The term "document of title to goods" includes

(p) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 27. (q) Id. s. 1; R. v. Yates, 1 Moo. C. C. 170; R. v. Walsh, Russ. & Ry. 215; R. v. Metcalf, 1 Moo. C. C. 433; R. v. Heath, 2 Moo. C. C. 33; R. v. Pooley, Russ.

& Ry. 12; R. v. Morrison, Bell, C. C. 158; R. v. Perry, 1 Den. C. C. 69; R. v. Powell, 2 Den. C. C. 403; R. v. Mead, 4 C. & P. 535; R. v. John, 7 C. & P. 324.

any bill of lading, India warrant, dock warrant, warehouse keeper's certificate, warrant or order for the delivery or transfer of any goods or valuable thing, bought and sold note, or any other document used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorizing or purporting to authorize, either by indorsement or by delivery, the possessor of such document to transfer or receive any goods thereby represented or therein mentioned or referred to (7).

Bailees fraudulently taking or converting to their own use or that of any person other than the owner any bailed chattel, money, or valuable security, shall be guilty of larceny. The section, however, does not extend to offences punishable on summary conviction (").

It is a felony punishable upon conviction by penal servitude:

To steal, or for any fraudulent purpose to destroy, cancel, obliterate, or conceal the whole or any part of any document of title to lands (s); To steal, or fraudulently destroy, cancel, obliterate, or conceal either during the life or after the death of the testator, the whole or any part of any will, codicil, or testamentary instrument, whether relating to real or personal property, or to both: and civil remedies are not affected by the criminal proceedings (t), but subject to the same proviso as in sect. 27 (u).

To steal, or fraudulently remove, or unlawfully and maliciously injure, obliterate, &c. records, writs, affidavits, orders, or other original documents belonging to a court of record, or relating to any

(9) See n. (2) on previous page. (r) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 3; R. v. Bunkall, L. & C. 371; R. v. Hassall, L. & C. 58; R. v. Oxenham, 46 L. J. M. C. 125; Arch.

Cr. Pl. (21st ed.) 396.

(s) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 28. (t) Id. s. 29.

(u) Supra, p. 310. See also R. v. Skeen, Bell, C. C. 97.

matter, civil or criminal, depending in any such court, or any document relating to the business of any office, or employment under Her Majesty, and being in any office appertaining to any court of justice, or in any government or public office (v) ; To steal in any dwelling-house (w) any chattel, money, or valuable security, to the value in the whole of 57. or more (r); and by menace or threat put any one being therein in bodily fear (y);

For a clerk or servant, or being employed for the purpose or in the capacity of clerk or servant, To steal any chattel, money, or valuable security belonging to or in the possession or power of his master or employer (z); or, To embezzle the like when given into his possession on behalf of his master or employer (a);

For a person in the public service, or for a constable or similarly employed person to do the like (b); For officers of the Bank of England or Ireland to do the like (c).

It is a misdemeanour, punishable upon conviction by

(e) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 30; R. v. Bailey, L. R. 1 C. C. R. 347; 41 L. J. M. C. 61.

(w) R. v. Andrews, Car. & M.

121.

(x) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 60; R. v. Petrie, 1 Leach, C. C. 294; R. v. Hamilton, Id. 348; R. v. Jones, 4 C. & P. 217; R. v. Dunn, 1 Moo. C. C. 146; R. v. Smith, Id. 295; R. v. Bowden, 2 Moo. C. C. 285; R. v. Taylor, Russ. & Ry. 418.

(y) Id. s. 61; R. v. Jackson, 1 Leach, C. C. 269; R. v. Etherington, 2 Leach, C. C. 671.

(z) Id. s. 67; R. v. Haydon, 7 C. & P. 445; Quarman v. Burnett, 6 M. & W. 499.

(a) Id. s. 68; R. v. Leech, 3 Stark. N. P. C. 70; R. v. Bayley, Dear. & B. 121; R. v. Batty, 2 Moo. C. C. 257;

R. v. White, 2 Moo. C. C. 91; R. v. Jenson, 1 Moo. C. C. 434; R. v. Miller, 2 Moo. C. C. 249 R. v. Tongue, Bell, C. C. 289; R. v. Bowers, L. R. 1 C. C. 41; R. v. Negus, L. R. 2 C. C. 34; R. v. Harris, 5 R. 402; 69 L. T. 25; R. v. Burton, 1 Moo. C. C. 237; R. v. Townsend, 1 Den. C. C. 167; R. v. Tyree, L. R. 1 C. C. 177; R. v. Carpenter, L. R. 1 C. C. 29; R. v. Foulkes, L. R. 2 C. C. 150; R. v. Hunt, 8 C. & P. 642; R. v. Hartley, Russ. & Ry. 139; R. v. Tite, 30 L. J. M. C. 142; R. v. Stuart, (1894) 1 Q. B. 310.

penal servitude, for any banker, merchant, broker, attorney, or other agent intrusted with any money or security for the payment of money to deal therewith. [to embezzle money or sell the securities], in violation of good faith, otherwise than in accordance with the directions of the person by whom he is so intrusted, subject, however, to certain rights (d).

Similarly, as to factors and other agents [or their clerks] obtaining advances on the property of their principals (e).

Similarly, as to trustees fraudulently disposing of trust property (ƒ).

Similarly as to directors, &c. of any body corporate or public company fraudulently appropriating any property of such body, &c. (g), or keeping fraudulent accounts (h), or wilfully destroying books, &c. (i), or publishing false statements (j).

Similarly, it is a misdemeanour to obtain for one's self or another, by false pretences, any chattel, money, or valuable security with intent to defraud (k).

Similarly, to induce others by fraud to execute deeds and other instruments (e.g., negotiable instruments, &c. (1)).

It is a felony or misdemeanour (according to the principal offence) to receive stolen chattels, money, or valuable security (m).

The owner of such stolen, &c. property, prosecuting

(d) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, ss. 75, 76. Cp. s. 77. (e) Id. s. 78. (f) Id. s. 80.

(g) Id. s. 81. See also Companies (Winding-up) Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 63), s. 10.

(h) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 82. (i) Id. s. 83.

(j) Id. s. 84.

(k) Id.ss. 88, 89; R. v. Goodhall, Russ. & Ry. 461; R. v. Wickham, 10 Ad. & E. 34; R. v. Woolley, 1 Den. C. C. 559; R. v.

Flint, Russ. & Ry. 460; R. v.
Barnard, 2 C. & P. 784; R. v.
Kenrick, 5 Q. B. R. 49; R. v.
Abbott, 1 Den. C. C. 273; R. v.
Ball, Carr & M. 249; R. v. Goss,
Bell, C. C. 208; R. v. Bryan,
Dears. & B. C. C. 265; R. v.
Adamson, 2 Moo. C. C. 286;
R. v. Butcher, Bell, C. C. 6; R. v.
Mills, Dears. & B. C. C. 205;
R. v. Naylor, L. R. 1 C. C. 4.

(7) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 90;
R. v. Gordon, 23 Q. B. D. 354.
(m) Id. ss. 91-99.

the thief, &c. to conviction, shall have restitution of his property, provided, however, that if it shall appear before any award or order made that any valuable security shall have been bona fide paid or discharged by some person or body corporate liable to the payment thereof, or, being a negotiable instrument, shall have been bona fide taken or received by transfer or delivery, by some person or body corporate as a holder in due course, in such case the Court shall not award or order the restitution of such security. And, further, the section does not apply to prosecutions of trustees, bankers, &c. (n).

It is a felony to take reward under pretence or on account of helping any person to obtain back any stolen chattel, money, valuable security or other property whatsoever, unless he shall have used all due diligence to cause the offender to be brought to trial for the same (0). To advertise a reward, &c. for the return of stolen property, and purposely to abstain from prosecuting inquiries about the person, &c. returning the same, &c., &c., renders the advertiser liable to a penalty of 507. for every such offence, recoverable by anyone by action of debt (p).

It is a misdemeanour and punishable by imprisonment and hard labour for anyone, being a 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 being the solicitor or agent of any such person, to conceal from the purchaser any settlement, deed, will, or other instrument material to the title, or any incumbrance, or to falsify 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 (q).

(n) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 100. (0) Id. s. 101.

(p) Id. s. 102.

(7) 22 & 23 Vict. c. 35, s. 24;