7. For a conspiracy to defraud a third person by means of an act not per se unlawful, and though no person be injured thereby.

8. For a bare conspiracy to cheat and defraud a third person, though the means of effecting it may not be determined on at the time.

138. The Means to be Employed.

If the object of a conspiracy is a crime or otherwise unlawful, the means by which it is to be accomplished are altogether immaterial.97 But if the object is not unlawful, unlawful means of accomplishing it must be contemplated.98 This distinction is important in determining the sufficiency of indictments for conspiracy. In the first case the means need not be set out in the indictment, while in the latter they must.99

Smith v..

97 Rex v. Eccles. 1 Leach, C. C. 274; People, 25 Ill. 17, 76 Am. Dec. 780, Beale's Cas. 811; State v. Buchanan, Har. & J. (Md.) 317, 9 Am. Dec. 534; Com. v. Hunt, 4 Metc. (Mass.) 111, 38 Am. Dec. 346, Beale's Cas. 821; People v. Richards, 1 Mich. 216, 51 Am. Dec. 75; Com. v. McKisson, 8 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 420, 11 Am. Dec. 630.

98 Smith v. People, supra; People v. Richards, supra; Com. v. Eastman, 1 Cush. (Mass.) 189, 48 Am. Dec. 596; State v. Crowley, 41 Wis. 271. 99 See the cases above cited,

When the object of the conspiracy is unlawful, it is not even necessary that the means of accomplishing it shall be agreed upon at the time.100

139. Conspiracy to Commit Crime-In General.

Nothing is better settled in the criminal law than the doctrine that a conspiracy to commit any crime, either as an end or as the means of accomplishing an end not criminal, is a misdemeanor at common law; and it is immaterial whether the intended crime be a felony or merely a misdemeanor, and whether it be criminal at common law or by statute only.101 For this proposition, said Judge Buchanan in the case above referred to, "it can scarcely be necessary to offer any authority." 102 Conspiracy to obtain money or property by false pretenses is clearly indictable where there is a statute punishing the obtaining of money or property by such

100 State v. Crowley, 41 Wis. 271; Rex v. Gill, 2 Barn. & Ald. 204.

101 Reg. v. Bunn, 12 Cox, C. C. 316; Beasley, C. J., in State v. Donaldson, 32 N. J. Law, 151, 90 Am. Dec. 649, Beale's Cas. 828; State v. Glidden, 55 Conn. 46.

102 State v. Buchanan, 5 Har. & J. (Md.) 317, 9 Am. Dec. 534.

means. 103 The same is true of conspiracy to commit an assault and battery, or to procure the false imprisonment of another,104 to rob or steal,105 etc.

140. Conspiracy to Pervert or Obstruct Justice.

To willfully obstruct or pervert the course of public justice is a misdemeanor at common law, and therefore a conspiracy to effect such a purpose is clearly indictable as a conspiracy to commit a crime. Thus, it is a crime to conspire to obstruct an officer in the discharge of his official duty; 100 to fabricate or destroy evidence, as by introducing false affidavits or certificates in evidence, by suppressing a will, etc.,107 or by passing a person off as the heir

103 Reg. v. Hudson, 8 Cox, C. C. 305, Beale's Cas. 158; Orr v. People, 63 Ill. App. 305; People v. Butler, 111 Mich. 483.

104 State v. McNally, 34 Me. 210, 56 Am. Dec. 650; Com. v. Putnam, 29 Pa. St. 296. Conspiracy to have a sane woman declared insane, and confined in an asylum, is indictable. Com. v. Spink, 137 Pa. St. 255.

105 People v. Richards, 67 Cal. 412, 56 Am. Rep. 716; Miller v. Com., 78 Ky. 15, 39 Am. Rep. 194.

106 State v. Noyes, 25 Vt. 415, 420; State v. McNally, 34 Me. 210, 56 Am. Dec. 650.

107 State v. DeWitt, 2 Hill (S. C.) 282, 27 Am. Dec. 374. In Rex v. Mawbey, 6 Term R. 619, an

of a decedent to obtain a part of his es

108

tate; to procure criminal process for im109 to enforce by legal proproper purposes;

.110

cess the payment of sums not due;1 or to pack a jury.11 A conspiracy between a witness and others for the former not to appear in obedience to a summons on the trial of an indictment is an indictable conspiracy.112

141. Conspiracy to do Immoral Acts.

A conspiracy to accomplish an object that is immoral is clearly indictable, if the act contemplated is an offense against the public morals, as an act of public indecency or immorality.113 And even when the object of a conspiracy is not of this character, if it is immoral, it is indictable. The object need

indictment was sustained for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by producing in evidence a false certificate by justices of the peace that a highway was repaired, to influence the judgment of the court on an indictment for failure to repair.

108 Rex v. Robinson, 1 Leach, C. C. 37.

109 Slomer v. People, 25 Ill. 70, 76 Am. Dec. 786.

110 Reg. v. Taylor, 15 Cox, C. C. 265, 268.

111 O'Donnell v. People, 41 Ill. App. 23.

112 Reg. v. Hamp, 6 Cox, C. C. 167; People v. Chase, 16 Barb. (N. Y.) 495.

113 Post, § 458, et seq.

not be an indictable offense. Thus, in a leading English case,114 an indictment was sustained for a conspiracy to place a girl, with her own consent, in the hands of a man for the purpose of prostitution, though neither seduction nor prostitution in private was indictable at common law. The immoral object made the conspiracy indictable.115 It has also been held an indictable offense to conspire to persuade a woman and her parents that a forged license is genuine, and that one of the conspirators is a justice of the peace, and thus gain their consent to a sham marriage.116

142. Conspiracy to Commit a Mere Private Wrong -In General.

There are some cases in which it has been held (by Lord Ellenborough, among others) that to render a conspiracy indictable there

114 Rex v. Delaval, 3 Burrows, 1434, 1 W. Bl. 410, 439, Beale's Cas. 101.

115 And see Rex v. Grey, 9 How. St. Tr. 127, 1 East, P. C. 460; Smith v. People, 25 Ill. 17, 76 Am. Dec. 780, Beale's Cas. 811 (conspiracy to fraudu lently procure a girl to have carnal connection with a man); Reg. v. Howell, 4 Fost. & F. 160; Reg. v. Mears, Den. C. C. 79, 4 Cox, C. C. 425; State v. Powell, 121 N. C. 635.

116 State v. Murphy, 6 Ala. 765, 41 Am. Dec. 79. And see State v. Wilson, 121 N. C. 650.