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CH. XXVIII.

The offence known in French law as abus de confiance has many forms, but the one which approaches most nearly to what we should describe as embezzlement or larceny by a bailee is contained in Article 408. "Quiconque aura dé

"tourné ou dissipé, au préjudice des propriétaires, possesseurs, "ou détenteurs, des effets, denrées, marchandises, billets, "quittances, ou tous autres écrits contenant ou opérant obli"gation ou décharge, qui ne lui auraient été remis qu'à titre "dé louage, de dépôt, de mandat, de nantissement, de prêt à 'usage, ou pour un travail, salarié ou non salarié, à la charge "de les rendre ou représenter, ou d'en faire un usage ou un "emploi déterminé, sera," &c. It is remarkable that this definition does not contain the word frauduleusement, but the courts 1 appear to have introduced it. The article would punish most of the crimes which have been created by our modern legislation as to criminal breaches of trust. I am not sure, however, that the article would cover all the cases to which our acts as to the frauds of agents would apply.

The circumstances recognised by the French law as aggravations of theft, as changing vols simples into vols qualifiés are shortly summed up in the following 2 passage: "Les vols sont "qualifiés à raison de la qualité de leur auteur, du temps où "ils ont été commis, du lieu de leur perpétration, enfin des "circonstances qui ont accompagné leur exécution.

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'Les vols sont qualifiés à raison de la qualité de leur auteur, quand ils sont commis (1) par les domestiques, hommes "de service à gages, ouvriers, compagnons et apprentis, (2) par "les aubergistes et hôteliers, (3) par les voituriers et bateliers. "Ils sont qualifiés à raison du temps où ils sont commis quand "ils sont exécutés pendant la nuit.

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"Ils sont qualifiés à raison du lieu de leur perpétration quand ils sont commis (1) dans les maisons habitées et leur dépendances, (2) dans les édifices consacrés aux cultes, (3) dans "les champs, (4) sur les chemins publics.

"Enfin ils sont qualifiés à raison des circonstances qui ont "accompagné leur exécution quand ils ont été commis (1) de complicité, (2) avec effraction, (3) avec escalade, (4) avec

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1 Pratique Criminelle, ii. pp. 495-496.
2 Théorie du Code Pénal, v. p. 123.

"fausses clefs, (5) avec port d'armes, (6) avec menaces ou CH. XXVIII

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violences, (7) avec usurpation de titres, ou de costumes, ou supposition d'ordre de l'autorité."

What I have already said will enable any one to see how far these aggravating circumstances differ from or correspond to those of our own legislation; but it would be wearisome and of little interest to carry out the comparison in detail.

The German Strafgesetzbuch recognises the same general division of the subject as the English law and the French Code Pénal. Its leading definitions are extremely brief and comprehensive, and are as follows:—

"242. Whoever takes away from another any moveable "thing which does not belong to the taker with intent to appropriate it illegally to himself is liable to be imprisoned "for theft."

"246. Whoever illegally appropriates to himself any "moveable thing which does not belong to him but is in "his possession or is intrusted to him is punishable for embezzlement (Unterschlagung) with imprisonment up to three years, or if the thing was intrusted to him up to "five years."

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"263. Whoever with intent to procure for himself or for a third person an illegal gain of property, injures the property "of another by leading him into or confirming him in error, by deceiving him by false allegations of fact or by keeping "back or suppressing the truth, is liable to be imprisoned for fraud (Betrug)." 1

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Here again we have the three cases of theft, embezzlement, and false pretences separately provided for, the definition of theft being almost a translation of the definition of vol in the

1242. Wer eine fremde bewegliche Sache einem andern in der Absicht "wegnimmt dieselbe sich rechtswidrig zuzueignen, wird wegen Diebstahls mit 'Gefängniss bestraft."

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"246. Wer eine fremde bewegliche Sache die er in Besitz oder gewahrsam "hat sich rechtswidrig zueignet wird wegen Unterschlagung mit Gefängniss, "bis zu drei Jahren, und wenn die Sache ihm anvertraut ist mit Gefängniss "bis zu fünf Jahren bestraft."

"263. Wer in der Absicht sich oder einem dritten einen rechtswidrigen "Vermögens-Vortheil zu verschaffen das Vermögen eines anderen dadurch “beschädigt das er durch Vorspiegelung falscher oder durch Enstellung oder "Unterdrückung wahrer Thatsachen einen Irrthum erregt oder unterhält, "wird wegen Betruges mit Gefängniss bestraft."

CH. XXVIII. Code Pénal, and being, no doubt, derived from the same origin. How far the definition of Unterschlagung (embezzlement) and Betrug (fraud, false pretences) would extend in practice, I am not aware. How far, for instance, a fraudulent agent, like Walsh, could be said to have in his possession or custody the bank notes which he ought to have invested for Sir Thomas Plumer, and whether a man who sells an unsound horse at a sound price by falsely stating that he is sound can be said to injure the property of another by making him err by the representation of a false fact, with a view to his own unlawful gain, I do not venture to conjecture.

The circumstances of aggravation recognised by the German law in regard to theft are in general similar to those given in the Code Pénal, and were probably to some extent suggested by them. They are simpler and less elaborate.

CHAPTER XXIX.

COINAGE OFFENCES-FORGERY-MALICIOUS INJURIES TO

PROPERTY.

Two classes of frauds by which property may be fraudu- CH. XXIX. lently misappropriated are of so much importance as to have been the subject of elaborate special legislation, the results of which are two of the Consolidation Acts passed in 1861. These are coining and forgery. The history of the law upon these subjects possesses some features of interest, though none attaches to its details. The subject may accordingly be

disposed of very shortly.

The allusions to these offences in the Anglo-Saxon laws are few, and such as there are, apply apparently to the crime of coining. Glanville gives a full definition of the "crimen falsi," as follows: 2" Generale crimen falsi plura "sub se continet crimina specialia. Quemadmodum de falsis cartis, de falsis mensuris, de falsâ monetâ, et alia "similia quæ talem falsitatem continent super quam aliquis "accusari debeat et convictus condemnari . . . notandum quod si quis convictus fuerit de cartâ falsâ distinguendum "est utrum carta regia an privata; quia si carta regia tunc "is qui super hoc convincitur condemnandus est tanquam de "crimine læsæ majestatis. Si vero fuerit carta privata tunc "cum convicto mitius agendum est sicut in cæteris minoribus "criminibus falsi." Glanville thus classes forgery and coining under one head. He is followed in this in substance by

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1 Cnut, Secular Laws, 8 (Thorpe i. p. 381), is the most important law. "Falsarii monetæ suæ "is one of the pleas of the crown specified in Hen. 1,

1;

; Thorpe, i. p. 519. Glanville, lib. xix. c. 7.

VOL. III.

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CH. XXIX. Bracton, 1 who thus describes the offence: "Continet etiam "sub se crimen læsæ majestatis crimen falsi quod quidem multiplex est ut siquis falsaverit sigillum domini regis, vel "monetam reprobam fabricaverit, et hujusmodi." 2 Elsewhere he says: "Est et aliud genus criminis læsæ majestatis, quod inter graviora numeratur quia ultimum inducit supplicium et mortis occasionem, sc. crimen falsi, in quâdam sui specie, et quod tangit coronam ipsius domini regis, ut si aliquis accusatus fuerit vel convictus quod sigillum domini regis "falsaverit, consignando inde chartas vel brevia, vel si chartas confecerit et brevia et signa apposuerit adulterina quo casu "si quis inde inveniatur culpabilis vel seysitus si warrantum "non habuerit pro voluntate regis judicium sustinebit" "Est et aliud genus criminis quod sub nomine falsi continetur “et tangit coronam domini regis et ultimum inducit suppli"cium sicut de ills qui falsam fabricant monetam, et qui "de re non reproba faciunt reprobam sicut sunt retonsores "denariorum."

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The law as to treason was declared in the statute of treasons in accordance with these views. In the 25 Edw. 3, st. 5, c. 2, the following provision follows the definition of treason by imagining the king's death and by levying war: “Et si "homme contreface les grant ou prive sealx le Roi ou sa monoie "et si home apport faus monoie en ceste roialme contrefaite "a la monoie d'Engleterre sicome la monaye apelle Lucynburgh, "ou autre semblable a la dite monoie d'Engleterre sachant la "monoie d'être faus pur marchander ou paiement faire en "deceit nostre dit seignur le roi et son poeple." In 1415 this was extended to "ceux qi tondent, lavent, et filent la "moneie de la terre," by 3 Hen. 5, c. 6, and in 1553 (1 Mary, sess. 2, c. 6), to the counterfeiting of coin not the proper coin of the realm, but current in it by the queen's consent. The same statute made it treason to forge or counterfeit the queen's sign manual, privy signet, or privy seal. By 1 Mary, sess. 1, c. 1, the 3 Hen. 5, c. 6, was repealed, but it was reenacted in 1562 by 5 Eliz. c. 11, and in 1576 a similar enact1 Bracton, ii. 258, fo. 118b.

2 Ib. p. 266, fo. 1196.

3 There are similar passages in Fleta, i. chap. 22, and Britton, and see the Mirror, p. 23.

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