to prove that any coin produced in evidence against such person is false or counterfeit, it shall not be necessary to prove the same to be false and counterfeit, by the evidence of any moneyer or other officer of Her Majesty's mint, or other person employed, in producing the lawful coin in Her Majesty's dominions, or elsewhere, whether the coin counterfeited be current coin, or the coin of any foreign prince, state or country not current in Canada, but it shall be sufficient to prove the same to be false or counterfeit by the evidence of any other credible witness.-Sect. 29, Imp. Act.

The words in Italics are not in the English Act.

The usual practice is to call as a witness, a silversmith of the town where the trial takes place, who examines the coin in Court, in the presence of the Jury-Davis's Cr. L., 235.

PROOF IN CERTAIN CASES.

Sect. 31.-Upon the trial of any person accused of any offence alleged to have been committed against the form of any Statute of Canada, or of any of the Provinces, passed or to be passed, respecting the currency or coin, or against the provisions of this Act, no difference in the date or year, or in any legend marked upon the lawful coin described in the indictment, and the date or year or legend marked upon the false coin counterfeited to resemble or pass for such lawful coin, or upon any die, plate, press, tool or instrument used, constructed, devised, adapted or designed, for the purpose of counterfeiting or imitating any such lawful coin, shall be considered a just or lawful cause or reason for acquitting any such person of such offence; and it shall in any case be sufficient to prove such general resemblance to the lawful coin as will

show an intention that the counterfeit should pass for it. Not in the English Act.

Sect. 32-Every offence of falsely making or counterfeiting any coin, or of buying, selling, receiving, paying, tendering, uttering or putting off, or of offering to buy, sell, receive, pay, utter or put off any false or counterfeit coin, against the provisions of this Act, shall be deemed to be complete, although the coin so made or counterfeited, or bought, sold, received, paid, tendered, uttered or put off, or offered to be bought, sold, received, paid, tendered, uttered or put off, was not in a fit state to be uttered, or the counterfeiting thereof was not finished or perfected.Sect. 30, Imp. Act.

The word in Italics is not in the English Act.

Sect. 33.-It shall be lawful for any person whatsoever to apprehend any person who is found committing any indictable offence against this Act, and to convey or deliver him to some peace officer, constable or officer of police, in order to his being conveyed, as soon as reasonably may be, before a Justice of the Peace or some other proper officer, to be dealt with according to law.— Sect. 31, Imp. Act.

On this clause, Greaves remarks: "this clause is new, and clearly, unnecessary, as far as it relates to any felony or indictable misdemeanor, for there is no doubt whatever that any person in the act of committing any such offence is liable by the common law to be apprehended by any person, but it was introduced at the instigation of the solicitors of the Treasury, as it has been found that there was great unwillingness to apprehend in such cases, in consequence of doubts that prevailed among the public as to the right to do so."

Sect. 34.-Vide ante, under sect. 2.

Sect. 35.-Enacts that every offence by this Act made punishable on summary conviction may be prosecuted in the manner directed by 32-33 Vict., ch. 31.

Sect. 36.-Repeals Imperial Act, 16-17 Vict. ch. 48, as regards Canada, and the Act of Parliament therein cited and amended. The Imperial Act 16-17 Vict., ch. 48, extended the Coin Act, 2 Will. 4, ch. 34, to the colonies. The 2 Will. 4, ch. 34, had been repealed, only as to the United Kingdom by 24-25 Vict., ch. 95, sects. 1 and 2, Imperial Repeal Act; it stands now repealed for Canada by the above clause. The Imperial Act, 16-17 Vict., ch. 102, repealed as to the United Kingdom by 24-25 Vict., ch. 95, appears to be in force as regards Canada. Judge Day, in Warner vs. Fyson, 2 Low. Can. Jurist, 106, ruled it to be law here, but its provisions are re-enacted in our Coin Act so that its non-repeal is of no consequence.

A special Statute concerning the copper coin has been passed since Confederation.

The

It is the 31 Vict., ch. 47, an Act respecting the manufacture or importation of copper coins or tokens. offences against it are all punishable on summary conviction.

Sect. 37.-This Act shall commence and take effect on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

FORGERY.

GENERAL REMARKS.

"To forge is metaphorically taken from the smith who beateth upon his anvil, and forgeth what fashion and shape he will: the offence is called crimen falsi, and the offender falsarius, and the Latin word, to forge, is falsare or fabricare."-Coke, 3rd. Inst. 169.

Forgery is the fraudulent making or alteration of a writing, to the prejudice of another's right."-4. Blackst.

247.

In Coogan's case (1. Leach, 448), Buller, J., said "it is the making of a false instrument with intent to deceive," and Eyre, B., in Taylor's case,defined it to be "a false signature made with intent to deceive." In the word "deceive" must doubtless be intended to be included an intent to "defraud,"[?]-and so it was defined by Grose, J., in delivering the opinion of the judges in the case of Parkes and Brown, viz.: "the false making a note or other instrument with intent to defraud." Again Eyre, B., in the case of Jones and Palmer, defined it to be "the false making an instrument, which purports on the face of it to be good and valid for the purposes for which it was created, with a design to defraud any person or persons."-(1 Leach, 367.) 2 East, P. C. 853. And East himself, 2 P. C. 852, says "forgery at common law denotes a false making, which includes every alteration of or addition to a true instrument, a making malo animo, of any written instrument for the purpose of fraud and deceit."

"Forgery is the false making of an instrument with intent to prejudice any public or private right." 3rd Rep. Crim., Law Comm., 10th June, 1847, p. 34.

"Forgery is the fraudulent making of a false writing, which, if genuine, would be apparently of some legal efficacy."-Bishop, 2. Cr. L. 523.

"The characteristic of the crime of forgery is the false making of some written or other instrument for the purpose of obtaining credit by deception. The relation this offence bears to the general system may be thus briefly established, In most affairs of importance, the intentions, assurances, or directions, of men are notified and authenticated by means of written instruments. Upon the authenticity of such instruments the security of many civil rights, especially the right of property, frequently depends; it is, therefore, of the highest importance to society to exclude the numerous frauds and injuries which may obviously be perpetrated by procuring a false and counterfeited written instrument, to be taken and acted on as genuine. In reference to frauds of this description, it is by no means essential that punishment should be confined to cases of actually accomplished fraud; the very act of falsely making and constructing such an instrument with the intention to defraud is sufficient, according to the acknowledged principles of criminal jurisprudence, to constitute a crime,-being in itself part of the endeavour to defraud, and the existence of the criminal intent is clearly manifested by an act done in furtherance and in part execution of that intention. The limits of the offence are immediately deducible from the general principle already adverted to. As regards the subject matter, the offence extends to every writing used for the purpose of authentication...

...The crime is not confined to the falsification of mere writings; it plainly extends to seals, stamps, and all other visible marks of distinction by which the truth