visions of this Act, or under any authority given to them for that purpose; or shall forge, counterfeit, or alter, or shall cause or procure to be forged, counterfeited, or altered, or shall knowingly or wilfully act or assist in the forging, counterfeiting, or altering, any certificate or order of any officer of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, or the name or names of any person or persons in or to any transfer of any annuity, or in or to any certificate, order, warrant, or other instrument for the payment of money for the purchase of any annuity under the provisions of this Act, or in or to any transfer or acceptance of any such annuity in the books of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, or in or to any receipt or discharge for any such annuity, or in or to any receipt or discharge for any payment or payments due or to become due thereon, or in or to any letter of attorney or other authority or instrument to authorize, or purporting to authorize, the transfer or acceptance of any annuities or any life annuity of whatsoever kind, or authorizing or purporting to authorize the receipt of any life annuity of whatsoever kind granted under any of the said recited Acts or this Act, or any payment or payments due or to become due thereon; or if any person or persons shall wilfully, falsely, and deceitfully personate any true and real *935] nominee or nominees, or shall wilfully utter or deliver, or produce to any person or persons acting under the authority of this Act any forged register or copy of register of any birth, baptism, or marriage, or any forged declaration, affidavit, or affirmation, knowing the same to be forged, counterfeited, or altered, with intent to defraud his Majesty, his heirs and successors, or with intent to defraud any person or persons whomsoever; then and in every such case all and every person and persons so offending being lawfully convicted thereof shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and suffer death."(d)

The 16 & 17 Vict. c. 45 (Savings' Bank Annuities Act), s. 31, provides for the forgery, &c., of registers, certificates, and other documents used or required under that Act.

By the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 31, "whosoever shall forge or fraudulently alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or fraudulently altered, any memorial, affidavit, affirmation, entry, certificate, indorsement, document, or writing, made or issued under the provisions of any Act passed or hereafter to be passed for or relating to the registry of deeds, or shall forge or counterfeit the seal of or belonging to any office for the registry of deeds, or any stamp or impression of any such seal; or shall forge any name, handwriting or signature purporting to be the name, handwriting, or signature of any person to any such memorial, affidavit, affirmation, entry, certificate, indorsement, document, or writing, which shall be required or directed to be signed by or by virtue of any Act passed or to be passed. or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any such memorial or other writing as in this section before mentioned, having thereon any such forged stamp or impression of any such seal, or any such forged name, handwriting; or signature, knowing the same to be forged, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years, and not less than five(dd) years,—or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement."(e)

By the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 53 (Transfer of Land Act), s. 105, "if in any proceeding to obtain the registration of any land, or any land certificate or certificate of

(d) The 1 Vict. c. 84, repeals the punishment of death imposed by this section, and the present punishment is provided by the 1 Vict. c. 84, ss. 1 & 3, ante, p. 912. Neither the 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 59, or the 1 Vict. c. 84, contains any provision for the punishment of accessories after the fact; they are therefore punishable under the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 4, ante, vol. 1, p. 69. See also the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 49, s. 10.

(dd) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47.

(e) This clause is framed on the 2 & 3 Anne, c. 4, s. 19; 6 Anne, c. 35, s. 26; and 8 Geo. 2, c. 6, s. 31, relating to Yorkshire; 7 Anne, c. 20, s. 15, relating to Middlesex; and the 6 Anne, c. 2, s. 17 (1.); 8 Anne, c. 10, s. 4 (I.); 8 Geo. 1, c. 15, s. 4 (I.); and 13 & 14 Vict. c. 72, s. 62 (I.), relating to Ireland.

The clause is new in England, except as to Middlesex and Yorkshire. As to hard labor, &c., see ante, p. 849.

title, or otherwise in any transaction relating to land which is or is proposed to be put upon the registry, any person acting either as principal or agent shall, knowingly and with intent to deceive, make or assist or join in or be privy to the making of any material false statement or representation, or suppress, conceal, or assist or join in or be privy to the suppressing, withholding, or concealing from any judge, or the *registrar, or any person employed by or assisting the registrar, any material document, fact, or matter of information, every person so acting shall be [*936 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years, and either with or without hard labor, or to be fined such sum as the court by which he is convicted shall award; the act or thing done or obtained by means of such fraud or falsehood shall be null and void to all intents and purposes, except as against a purchaser for valuable consideration without notice."(f)

Sec. 138. "If any person fraudulently procures, assists in fraudulently procuring, or is privy to the fraudulent procurement of any order of the Court of Chancery in relation to registered land, or fraudulently procures, assists in fraudulently procuring, or is privy to the fraudulent procurement of the entry on the register of any caveat or notice of a charge, or of the erasure from the register or alteration on the register of any caveat or notice of a charge, such person shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor; and any order procured by fraud, and any act consequent on such order, and any entry, erasure, or alteration so made by fraud, shall be void as between all parties or privies to such fraud."

Sec. 139. "Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under the last preceding section shall be liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding three years, with or without hard labor, or to be fined such sum as the court by which he is convicted shall think just."

By the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 67 (Declaration of Title Act), s. 44, "if in the course of any proceeding before the court under this Act any person acting either as principal or agent shall knowingly and with intent to deceive, make or assist or join in or be privy to the making of any material false statement or representation, or suppress, conceal, or assist or join in or be privy to the suppressing, withholding, or concealing from the court any material document, fact, or matter of information, every person so acting shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years, and either with or without hard labor, or to be fined such sum as the court by which he is convicted shall award: the order or declaration of title obtained by means of such fraud or falsehood shall be null and void for or against all persons other than a purchaser for valuable consideration without notice."

Sec. 45 "If in the course of any proceeding before the court under this Act any person shall fraudulently forge or alter or assist in forging or altering any certificate or other document relating to such land or to the title thereof, or shall fraudulently offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any such certificate or other docu[*937 ment, knowing the same to be forged or altered, such person *shall be guilty of felony, and upon conviction shall be liable at the discretion of the court by which he is convicted, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than five(f) years, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement."(g)

The 54 Geo. 3, c. 133, entitled, " An Act for better enabling the commissioners of stamps to make allowances for spoiled stamps on policies of insurance in Great

(ƒ) Sec. 106. "No proceeding or conviction for any act hereby declared to be a misdemeanor shall affect any remedy which any person aggrieved by such act may be entitled to, either at law or in equity, against the person who has committed such act."

Sec. 107. " Nothing in this Act contained shall entitle any person to refuse to make a complete discovery by answer to any bill in equity, or to answer any question or interrogatory in any civil proceeding in any court of law or equity, or in the court of bankruptcy; but no answer to any such bill, question, or interrogatory shall be admissible in evidence against such person in any criminal proceeding."

(f) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47.

(g) Secs. 46 & 47 of this Act are the same as secs. 106 & 107 of the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 53. See the last note.

Britain, and for preventing frauds relating thereto," enacts by sec. 10, "that if any person shall forge or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be forged or counterfeited, or willingly aid or assist in the forging or counterfeiting of the name or handwriting of any underwriter on any policy of insurance, to any declaration of any return of the premium on any such policy, or any part thereof, or shall fraudulently alter, or cause or procure to be altered, or aid and assist in altering any such declaration, after the same shall have been signed by any underwriter, or shall utter or make use of any such declaration, knowing the same to have been fraudulently altered, or the name or handwriting of any underwriter to have been forged or counterfeited thereon, for the purpose of obtaining any such allowance as aforesaid, and with intent to defraud his Majesty, his heirs, &c., every person so offending shall, for the first offence, forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds, to be paid to his Majesty, his heirs or successors, and to be recovered in the same manner as other penalties imposed by any of the laws now in force relating to stamp duties; and for the second and every other offence shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and shall be transported for seven years to parts beyond the seas."(h) All the powers, provisions, pains, penalties, &c., of this Act are extended by the 54 Geo. 3, c. 144, s. 11, to the contracts of insurance, and to the allowance of stamp duty in the cases therein specified.

The 10 Geo. 4, c. 50, entitled "An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to the management, &c., of his Majesty's woods, forests, parks, and chases, &c.," by sec. 124 enacts, that "if any person or persons shall knowingly and wilfully forge or counterfeit, or knowingly and wilfully act or assist in forging or counterfeiting the name or handwriting of the lord high treasurer or of the commissioners of his Majesty's treasury for the time being, or of any or either of them, to any power of attorney for the sale or transfer of any stock, or the name or handwriting of the said commissioners for the time being of his Majesty's woods, forests, and land revenues, (i) or of any or either of them, to any draft, instrument, or writing whatsoever, for or in order to the receiving or obtaining any of the money in the hands

or custody of the governor and company of the Bank of England, or of the *938] Bank of Ireland, or of any *private banker, on account of the said commissioners, or shall forge or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be forged or counterfeited, or knowingly and wilfully act or assist in the forging or counterfeiting, any draft, instrument, or writing in form of a draft, made by the said commissioners, or any or either of them, or shall utter or publish any such, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeited, with an intent to defraud the said governor and company of the Bank of England, or of the Bank of Ireland, or any private banker, or any body corporate, or any person or persons whomsoever, every person or persons so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be and is and are hereby declared and adjudged to be guilty of felony."(j)

The 1 & 2 Will. 4, c. 22, which was passed to amend the laws relating to hackney

(h) Penal servitude for any term not exceeding seven and not less than five years, by the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3, ante, vol. 1, p. 4, and the 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47. This Act is extended to Ireland by the 5 & 6 Vict. c. 82, s. 30.

This Act contains no provision for the punishment of accessories after the fact; they are therefore punishable under the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, s. 4, ante, vol. 1, p. 69.

(i) Now commissioners of Her Majesty's woods and forests, land revenues, works, and buildings, 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 1.

(j) Mr. Lonsdale (St. C. L. 196) observes, that the 10 Geo. 4, c. 50, s. 124, appears to be incidentally repealed, or at all events to be superseded by the 1 Will. 4, c. 66, s. 6, as to the forgery of any power of attorney; and he also observes that although the other instruments above described appear to be warrants or orders for the payment of money within the meaning of the 1 Will. 4, c. 66, s. 4, yet the forgery thereof not having been a capital offence at the time of the passing of that Act, is not now punishable under the 1 Vict. c. 84, ss. 2 & 3, but persons committing the same are punishable under the 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 28, ss. 8 & 9, and the 1 Vict. c. 90, s. 5 (ante, vol. 1, p. 3). The 10 Geo. 4, c. 50, contains no provision for the punishment of accessories after the fact to any of the above offences, nor of accessories before the fact to the offences of forging the handwriting of the commissioners of woods, forests, &c., and uttering the forged instruments above mentioned, nor for the punishment of principals in the second degree to the offence of uttering, all such accessories are therefore punishable under the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 94, ante, vol. 1, p. 67, et seq., and the principals in the second degree like the principals in the first degree.

carriages, &c., in the metropolis, by sec. 33, enacts, that "if any person applying for or procuring or attempting to procure any license under any of the provisions of this Act shall use or employ any false or fictitious name or place of abode, or other false or fictitious description of any person or supposed person, or shall wilfully or knowingly insert or cause to be inserted in any requisition for any such license, or in any such license, any false or fictitious name or place of abode, or other false or fictitious description of any person or supposed person, or shall wilfully or knowingly insert or cause to be inserted in any such requisition or in any such license as aforesaid, the name of any person as being a proprietor or part proprietor of any hackneycarriage, who shall not at the time of the application for such license be in fact a proprietor or part proprietor of any such hackney-carriage; the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, he shall be liable to be punished by fine and imprisonment, or by both, as the court shall award; such imprisonment to be in the common gaol or house of correction, and either with or without hard labor, as the court shall think fit."

The 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 120, which consolidates the laws relating to stage-carriages and horses let for hire in Great Britain, by sec. 10 enacts, that "if any person applying for or procuring or attempting to procure any license under this Act for or in respect of any stage-carriage, shall use or employ any false or fictitious name or place of abode, or other false or fictitious description of any person or supposed person, or shall insert or cause to be inserted in any requisition for any such license, or in any such license, any false or fictitious name or place of abode, or other

false or fictitious description of any person or supposed person as being the [*939

proprietor or part proprietor of the stage-carriage for or in respect of which such license shall be applied for or procured, or shall wilfully or knowingly insert or cause to be inserted in any such requisition, or in any such license as aforesaid, the name of any person as being a proprietor or part proprietor of such carriage, who shall not at the time of the application for such license be in fact a proprietor or part proprietor of such carriage; the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof he shall be liable to be punished by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the court shall award; such imprisonment to be in the common gaol or house of correction, and either with or without hard labor, as the court shall think fit; and in Scotland, whenever any person shall so offend, he shall be liable to be punished in like manner."

The 6 & 7 Vict. c. 86, "An Act for regulating hackney- and stage-carriages in and near London," by sec. 20 enacts, that "every person who shall forge, counterfeit, or who shall cause or procure to be forged or counterfeited, any license or ticket by this Act directed to be provided for the driver of a hackney-carriage, or for the driver or the conductor of a metropolitan stage-carriage, or for any waterman, and also every person who shall sell or exchange, or expose to sale, or utter any such forged or counterfeited license or ticket, and also every person who shall knowingly and without lawful excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on the person accused) have or be possessed of such forged or counterfeited license or ticket, knowing such license or ticket to be forged or counterfeited, and also every person knowingly and wilfully aiding and abetting any person in committing any such offence as aforesaid, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, being thereof convicted, shall be liable to be punished by fine or imprisonment, or by both, such imprisonment to be in the common gaol or house of correction, and either with or without hard labor, as the court shall think fit."

Upon the trial of any indictment for any offence in this chapter the jury may, under the 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100, s. 9,(k) convict the prisoner of an attempt to commit the same, and thereupon he may be punished in the manner as if he had been convicted on an indictment for such attempt.

(k) Ante, vol. 1, p. 1.

*940]

*CHAPTER THE FORTIETH.

OF THE FORGERY OF PRIVATE PAPERS, SECURITIES, AND DOCUMENTS.

By the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98. s. 20," whosoever, with intent to defraud, shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any deed, or any bond or writing obligatory, or any assignment at law or in equity of any such bond or writing obligatory, or shall forge any name, handwriting, or signature purporting to be the name, handwriting, or signature of ness attesting the execution of any deed, bond, or writing obligatory, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any deed, bond, or writing obligatory having thereon any such forged name, handwriting, or signature, knowing the same to be forged, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than five(a) years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement."(b)

Sec. 21. "Whosoever, with intent to defraud, shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any will, testament, codicil, or testamentary instrument, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than five(a) years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement."(c)

Sec. 22. "Whosoever shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any bill of exchange, or any acceptance, indorsement, or assignment of any bill of exchange, or any promissory note for the payment of money, or any indorsement or assignment of any such promissory note, with intent to defraud, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than five(a) years, or to be imprisoned for any term *941] not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement. (cc)

Sec. 23. "Whosoever shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any undertaking, warrant, order, authority, or request for the payment of money, or for the delivery or transfer of any goods or chattels, or of any note, bill, or other security for the payment of money, or for procuring or giving credit, or any indorsement on or assignment of any such undertaking, warrant, order, authority, or request, or any accountable receipts, acquittance, or receipt for money or for goods, or for any note, bill or other security for the payment of money, or any indorsement on or assignment of any such accountable receipt, with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to defraud, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than five(d)

(a) 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47.

(b) The first part of this clanse is taken from the 1 Will. 4, c. 66, s. 10, and is similar to the 3 Geo. 2, c. 4, s. 1 (I.), and 17 Geo. 2, c. 11. s. (I.).

The second part of the section is new, and creates the following offences:-1, forging or uttering, knowing it to be forged, any assignment of any bond; 2, forging the name or signature of a witness attesting the execution of any deed or bond; 3, uttering any deed or bond, having on it any such forged name or signature, knowing it to be forged. As to hard labor, &c., see ante, p. 849.

(c) This clause is taken from the 1 Will. 4, c. 66, s. 3. There were similar provisions in the 3 Geo. 2, c. 4, s. 1 (I.), and 17 Geo. 2, c. 11, s. 1 (I.). As to hard labor, &c., see ante, p. 849.

(cc) This clause is taken from the 1 Will. 4, c. 66, s. 3. There were similar provisions in the 3 Geo. 2, c. 4, s. 1 (I.), and 17 Geo. 2, c. 11, s. 1 (I.). As to hard labor, &c., see ante, p. 849.

(d) 27 & 28 Vict. c 47.