Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-08-06
SOME LEGAL FREAKS
CURIOUS TWISTS THAT OBTAIN IN
ENGLISH CRIMINAL LAW.

A Person May he Guilty OF Perjury
Though He swears 10 the Truth--No
such offense AZ Trespass - Points
About Forgery.
In no branch Of the law as II is dis
pensad in Great Britain are such curl
,, GUS points to be found or a greater
number of anomalies to be met with
than in the criminal branch thereof.
1t may be news to some people, for
instance, to know that there are a num-
Der Of things in existence which can
not be stolen, such as corpse. animals
fer9 natursei. e., animals wild in a
state of nature with certain excep-
tons created by statute) soil of the
earth, etc. To attempt TO steal nothing
would appear on the face of 1t to be
an impossibility, much less crime,
but man indicted for attempting TO
pick lady's pocket which was subse-
Quently found to be empty was found
guilty Of an attempt TO commit theft"
though, in fact, there was nothing In
the pocket to steal
Any one lucky enough to pick up
sovereign lying In the road will be glad
to hear that, If at the time of finding
1t he had no reasonable means of DIS
covering the owner of it, and also If he
did not at the same time conceive the
idea of appropriating 1t to himself, he
viii not be guilty of stealing if he
keeps his lucky find, even If the right
full owner discovers and claims it.
Most people walking in the country
must have noticed on numerous occa-
sions boards or placards posted up In
woods. fields, etc, notifying in large
letters that "trespassers viii be prose-
cuted," but few are aware that such
notices are utterly useless and no one
need feel the least alarm thereat, there
being no such offense known in crimi-
nal law as such a trespass, and per-
son could never be prosecuted for such
an offense. They are, IN fact, in the
words of that eminent jurist, Sir Fred
erick Pollock, in his well known work,
Pollock on Torts,' a wooden false
hood"
1t is a common fallacy to imagine
that the crime of forgery consists in
signing another's name, though in fact
committing forgery consists in making
and uttering any false instrument in
writing with attempt to defraud; thus
1t may be a forgery TO omit word
from a document. and 1t will be mat
ter of considerable surprise to many to
learn that 1t is possible for person to
forge his or her own name. A person,
however, who fraudulently inserts an
others name en- picture. thereby sell
ing it,as the work of some other artist,
Is net guilty OF forgery, as a picture is
not an 'inStrHmeat In writing"
The erdms ef perjury also does not
quite st ia" with the generally ac-
ceptad idea, which is that Ii person,
after being sworn ON oath to speak the
trvth, swears falsely, he Is guilty Of
such offense. This is correct with the
important qualification that the fact
the witness has sworn to must be ma
terial to the case. Thus, If q witness
on being duly sworn gave a false adj
dress on being asked where he lived,
this, though untrue, would not amount
to perjury, as the place where the wit
ness lived would be quite immaterial.
That a person may be guilty Of per-
jury though speaking the truth may
seem a crHious anomaly, but such new
ertheless is the fact, as the test Of per-
jury is not whether person is speak
ing what he believes to be the truth;
50, II witness, for instance, on being
asked, what colored tie was the pris-
oner wearing when you met him" re-
piled red when in fact he did not
really notice, he would be guilty OF
perjury, even though the prisoner was
in reality wearing q red tie when the
witness met him.
Numerous other instances of crimes
which present similar curious points to
the above might be given, and, in pass
ing, persons taking out assurances
against burglary might note that this
crime can only be commit le5 between
the hours OF p. m. and a. M; that
breaking into house by means of an
open door or window is not burglary,
although entering house by sliding
down the chimney fs.
We must not conclude thie article
without short reference to compar-
atively recent case in which man not
possessing the means TO pay entered a
restaurant, where he ordered and ate
good dinner. As, however, he was I'M
abb" to pay for the same he was given
in :harge and subsequently indicted
for obtaining goods by false pre-
lenses" The case resulted In the pris-
oner's acquittal on the ground that he
had not been guilty of any false pre-
lenses.
This individual therefore had good
meal on the cheap. but we should not
advise any enterprising reader to emu
late his example. as. although he could
not indeed be prosecuted for obtaining
goods by false pretenses, 1t seems that
he VIII still be criminally liable under
the bankruptcy act for obtaining credit
by fraudulent means.-London Tit-Bits.
Averting q Panic.
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