Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-05-27
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LEGAL FREAKS
CURIOUS TWISTS THAT OBTAIN IN
ENGLISH CRIMINAL LAW.

AnOuBh ne SVteaEB 10 the ITutn-NO
Such OfRense as Trespass - Points
l. About Forgery.
In no branch Of the law as it is dis
pensed 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 q num-
Der Of things in existence which can
not be stolen, such as a corpse, animals
ferae natura-i. e.. animals wild in a
state of nature with certain excep-
tons created by s~tatute)-soil Of the
earth, etc. To attempt to steal nothing
would appear on the face Of it to be
an impossibility, much less a crime,
but q man indicted for attempting to
pick a 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 n lucky enough to pick up a
sovereign lying in the road will be glad
to hear that, if at the time Of finding
it he had no reasonable means of dis
covering the owner of 1t, and also if he
did not at the same time conceive the
idea Of appropriating it to himself, he
will 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 will 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 aw as such a trespass, and a per-
son could never be prosecuted for such
an ofense. 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
COMMENCING AO16CAJ SOuS1SlS III udhl1S
and uttering~ any false instrument in
writing with attempt to defraud; thus
it may be a forgery to omit a word
from a document, and it will be a mat
ter Of considerable surprise to many to
learn that it is possible for a person to
forge his OF her own name. A person,
however, who fraudulently inserts an
others name On a picture. thereby SELL
ing it as the work of some other artist,
is not guilty Of forgery, as a picture is
not an instrument in writing"
The crime Of perjury also does not
quite eft in" with the generally ac-
cepted idea, which is that if a person,
after being sworn on oath to speak the
truth, swears falsely, he is guilty Of
such ofense. This is correct with the
important qualification that the fact
the witness has sworn to must be ma
terial to the case. Thus. if a witness
on being duly sworn gave q 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 curious anomaly, but such nev-
ertheless is the fact, as the test of per-
jury is not whether a person is speak
ing what he believes to be the truth;
so, If a 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 a 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 a only be committed between
the hours of 8 p. m. and 6 n. M; that
breaking into a house by means of an
open door or window is not burglary,
although entering a house by sliding
down the chimney Is.
We must not conclude this article
without a short reference to q compar-
atively recent Ease in which a man not
possessing the means to pay entered a
restaurant, where he ordered and ate a
good dinner. AS, however, he was un-
able to pay for the same he was given
in charge 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 a 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, it seems that
he will still be criminally liable under
the bankruptcy act for obtaining credit
by fraudulent m~eans.-London Tit-Bits.
GENIUS AT WORK.
we C--44 80 h- 49, -