For altering a receipt clerks of the bank by him on nor and from the corpora of the statute, &c. and against the peace, &c. [Second count, for uttering and publishing with a like intent. Third count like the first, for forging with intent to defraud R. B. the person from whom the prisoner received the money. Fourth count like the second, laying the intent as in the third.] That J. H. late of, &c. on, &c. having in his custody and possession a certain accountable receipt for bank notes for given by payment of money given on, &c. J. C. who then was, and still one of the is, a clerk of the governor and company of the bank of England for, and on behalf of the said governor and company, to a certain corporation called the London Assurance, for of England for a divers bank notes then received by him the said J. C. from bank note the said corporation called the London Assurance, for the received said governor and company (the said last mentioned bank behalf of notes being notes for payment of money, to wit, for the paythe gover- ment of the sum of two hundred and ten pounds,) which said accountable receipt for bank notes, for payment of money was company then in the words, letters, figures and cypher following, that is to say, แ 1777, June 16, bank notes, C. 210/." which said last mentioned figures and cypher 210, did import, signify, and express two hundred and ten pounds, he the said J. H. on, &c. with force and arms, at, &c. aforesaid, feloniously did falsely alter, and feloniously did cause and procure to be falsely altered, and feloniously did willingly act and assist in the false altering the principal sum of the said accountable receipt for the last mentioned bank notes, for payment of money, to wit, the said sum of two hundred and ten pounds, by feloniously and falsly making, forging, counterfeiting and prefixing, and feloniously causing and procuring to be falsely made, forged, counterfeited and prefixed, and feloniously and willingly acting and assisting in the false making, forging, counterfeiting and prefixing the figure 3 to the said figures and cypher 210. whereby the words, letters, figures and cypher tion of the London Assurance. (x) [*1080] (x) This quitted on all the counts charging him on 2 Geo. II. c. 25. with the forgery of a receipt for money or goods, on the ground that bank notes are neither; and convicted on the counts on 7 Geo. II. c. 22. The court were clearly of opinion that the instrument was an accountable receipt for payment of money under that act, but as that statute was not then extended to corporations, the prisoner received a pardon. This was however, remedied by 18 Geo. III. c. 18. and the 45 Geo. III. c. 89. extends to this case among many others when it re-enacts former provisions. Second like inten "1777, June 16, bank notes C. 210/." together with the figure 3 so falsely made, forged, counterfeited and prefixed as aforesaid, then did, and still do import, signify and express that the said J. C. as clerk of the said governor and company of the bank of E. had, on the said, &c. in the said, &c. received of the said corporation, called The London Assurance, bank notes, for payment of money to the amount of the sum of three thousand two hundred and ten pounds, with intention to defraud the said corporation called The London Assurance, against the form of the statute, &c. and against the peace, &c. And the jurors, &c. do further present, That the said J. H. afterwards, to wit, on the said, &c. with force and count for arms, at, &c. aforesaid, feloniously did utter and publish as uttering, true, a certain other false, altered, forged and counterfeited, &c. with a accountable receipt for bank notes, for payment of money, tion. which said last mentioned false, altered and forged accountable receipt for bank notes, for payment of money was, and is, in the words, letters, figures and cypher following, to wit, "1777, June 16, bank notes, C. 32101." and which said last mentioned false, altered and forged accountable receipt in the said words, letters, figures and cypher last mentioned, then did, and still doth, import, signify and express that the said J. C. as clerk of the said governor and company of the bank of E. had, on the said, &c. received from the said corporation, called the London Assurance, divers bank notes for the payment of money to the amount of the sum of three thousand two hundred and ten pounds, with intention to defraud the said corporation called the London Assurance, (he the said J. H. at the time he so as aforesaid uttered and published as true, the said last mentioned, false, altered, forged and counterfeited accountable receipt for bank notes, for payment of money, well knowing the same to be false, altered, forged and counterfeited,) against the form of the statute, &c. and against the peace, &c. FALSE PERSONATING. PRELIMINARY NOTES. The Offence of false personating, which is punishable [*1081] under several statutes, is nearly allied to forgery. At com- Offence. mon law, it was, at all events, indictable only as a cheat, and punishable as a misdemeanour. Indeed, most of the cases in which it has been holden to be indictable, have been those, in which conspiracy formed the principal ingredient. Thus, where it was holden criminal for two persons to marry under Crim. Law. VOL. III. 3 в [*1082] feigned names, for the purpose of raising a specious title to an estate, the conspiracy between them was the git of the charge, 1 Leach, 37. So that at the present day, the simple offence of personating another with intent to defraud, rests chiefly on legislative provision. The personating of bail, which seems an offence against public justice, has been provided against by 21 Jac. 1. c. 26. s. 2. and 4 and 5 W. and M. c. 4. s. 4. The first of these statutes makes it felony without benefit of clergy "to acknowledge or procure to be acknowledged, any fine, recovery, deed enrolled, statute, recognizance, bail, or judgment, in the name or names of any person or persons, not privy or consenting to the same," with a proviso, that the act shall not extend to any judgment acknowledged by any attorney of record, for any person, against whom any such judgment shall be given. But this act extended only to bail taken in the courts themselves, 4 Bla. Com. 128. so that if the bail acknowledged in another's name, was not filed, the offence was a misdemeanour only. And, therefore, the 4 and 5 W. and M. c. 4. which authorizes bail to be taken by commissioners in the county, and by any judge on his circuit, makes it a single felony for any one, before a person empowered by virtue of that act to take bail" to represent or personate any other person, whereby the person so represented and personated, may be liable to the payment of any sum of money, for debt or damages to be recovered in the same suit or action, wherein such person is represented and personated, as if he had really acknowledgod or entered into the same." And the 27 Geo. III. c. 43. extends the same provision to the taking special bail in Chester. Still, however, the mere personating bail before a judge, in Chambers, which is not filed of record, appears to be a misdemeanour only, 1 Hale, 696. 2 Sid. 90. And if bail be put in under feigned names, there being no such persons to be defrauded, it is no felony, though the defendants may be sentenced to the pillory, or such lighter punishment as the court may think proper to inflict, 1 Stra. 384. The case of personating the proprietors of the stock of the bank or other public companies, isprovided for by the several statutes which protect its transfer from forgery. Of this kind are 8 Geo. I. c. 22. s. 1. 31 Geo. II. c. 22. s. 77. and 4 Geo. III. c. 25. s. 15. which we have noticed already, [ante 1023, 4.] For the terms of these statutes it will appear that it is not necessary to constitute the offence that the fraud should be completed. Thus by 31 Geo. II. c. 22. s. 77. which we have seen extends not only to companies already established, but to all the legislature might in future sanction. It is made felony without benefit of clergy, " falsely and de ceitfully to personate any true and real proprietors of the said shares, in stock annuities and dividends, or any of them, or any part thereof, and thereby transferring or endeavouring to transfer the stock, or receiving, or endeavouring to receive the money of such true and lawful proprietor, as if such offender were the true and lawful owner thereof." As to what, under this act, shall be considered as an endeavouring to receive the money of a proprietor of stock, it has been holden that if a defendant personate a proprietor of stock, and having in his name procured a dividend warrant, his offence is complete, though he never made any further attempt to obtain the money on the instrument so obtained, but was apprehended in another part of the bank, before he had taken any further steps to execute his design, 1 Leach, 434. We have seen the regulations made respecting the forgery of documents relative to seamen, for the purpose of obtaining their prize money or wages, ante 1030. And by 31 Geo. II. c. 10. s. 24. it is enacted, that "whosoever willingly and knowingly shall personate or falsely assume the name or character of, or procure any other to personate or falsely to assume the name or character of any officer, seaman, or other person entitled, or supposed to be entitled to any wages, pay, or other allowances of money, or prize money for service done on board of any ship or vessel of his majesty, his heirs, or successors; or the executor or administrator, wife, relation, or creditor, of any such officer or seaman, or other person, in order to receive any wages, pay, or other allowances of money, or prize money, due or supposed to be due or payable, for, or on account of, the services of any such officer or seaman, or other person as aforesaid, he shall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. And by 3 Geo. III. c. 16. s. 6. "Whosoever willingly and knowingly shall personate [*1083] or falsely assume the name or character of, or procure any other to personate or falsely assume the name or character of any person entitled, or supposed to be entitled as an out pensioner to any out pension or allowance of money from the commissioners or governors of Greenwich Hospital, in order to receive the money due, or supposed to be due on such out-pension," shall be guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy. But it has been holden, that to constitute an offence within these acts, the personation must be as of some seaman actually on board the vessel, to which the imposter professes to belong, or of some person who is shown to be in existence, and to have some colorable claim to receive the money, and not a representation of a person altogether fictitious, 2 East, P. C. 1007. For feloniously personating another person and name be fore a commis INDICTMENTS FOR PERSONATING. DECEIT. That on, &c. our said lord the king, by his writ of capias, issued out of the court of our said lord the king of the common bench at W. bearing date the same day and year, directed to the sheriff N. did command the said sheriff that he should take J. R. late of, &c. yeoman, and J. D. if they becoming should be found in his bailiwick, and them safely keep, so bail in his that he might have their bodies before the justices of our said lord the king at W. in three weeks from the day of St. Michael, to answer to D. D. of a plea that he render to him sioner ap- fifty pounds, which he owed to, and unjustly detained from pointed to take bail him, which same writ afterwards, and before the delivery thereof to the said sheriff of the said county of N. to be excountry in ecuted on, &c. at, &c. was duly marked and indorsed for matters a- bail, for the sum of. according to the form of the starising in K. B. (y) tute in such case made and provided, and afterwards and before the return of the same, to wit, on, &c. at, &c. was deliv[*1084] ered to A. S. esquire, then sheriff of the county aforesaid, in in the due form of law to be executed, which said A. S. sheriff of the county aforesaid, by virtue of the writ aforesaid, afterwards and before the return of the said writ, to wit, on the said, &c. did make a certain warrant of him the said sheriff, under his seal directed to S. C. and R. R. his bailiffs of the hundred of· in the county aforesaid by which he commanded them jointly and severally, that they should take the said J. R. in the writ above named, to answer the said D. D. of a plea, that he render to him fifty pounds, which he owed to, and unjustly detained from him as aforesaid, and that the said S. C. in the warrant aforesaid named, afterwards and before the return of the said writ, to wit, on, &c. by virtue of the writ and warrant aforesaid, at, &c. aforesaid, did take and arrest the said J. R. in the said writ and warrant above named, according to the command of the writ and warrant aforesaid, and him the said J. R. then and there had in his custody by virtue of the said writ and warrant aforesaid, and (y) See a similar precedent, Cro. C. C. 89. Starkie, 505. This indictment is founded on 4 W. & M. c. 4. s. 4. which enacts, "That, if any person shall (before any person empowered by virtue of that act to take bail or bails) represent or personate any other person, whereby the person so represented and personated may be liable to the payment of any sum or sums of money for debt or da mages to be recovered in the same suit or action, wherein such person is represented and personated, as if he had really acknowledged and entered into the same, "shall be esteemed a felon," &c. and see 27 Geo. III. c. 43. respecting special bail at Chester, 1018. |