The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-02
POINTS IN ENGLISH LAW,

POINTS IN ENGLISH LAW,
 Some of Them Seem Rather Queer
 When Not Backed Up by Reasons.
 In no branch of the law are such cu- rious points to be found or a greater number of anomalies to be met with than in the criminal branch thereof | It may be news to some people, for in- stance, to know that there are num- Der of things in existence which cannot be stolen, such as corpse, animals ferae naturae, i e., animals wild in a state of nature (with certain exceptions created by statute), soil of the earth sc. To attempt to steal nothing would pear, on the face of it. to be an impos- sibility much less crime, but a man indicted for attempting to pick a lady s pocket which was subsequently, 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 a sovereign lying in the road will be glad to hear that if at the time of ind ing it he had no reasonable means ot discovering the owner of 1t, and also 1T he did not at the same time conceive the idea of approprating it to himsef' he will not be guilty of stealing If he keeps his lucky find even if the right ful owner is discovered and claims 1t.
 Most people walking in the country must have noticed on numerous occa- sons boards or placards posted up in woods, fields, &c., notifying in large letters that 'trespassers will be prose- cuted," but few ara aware that such notices are utterly useless and no one need feel the least alarm thereat, there being no such offence known in crimi- nal law as such trespass, and per sor could eva be prosecute for such son could never be prosecuted for such an offence. They are, in fact, in the words of the eminent jurist Sir Freder- ick Pollock, in his work Pollock on Torts." wooden falsehood
 l It 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 it may be forgery to omit a word from a document, and 1t will be mat ter of cons 'derable 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 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 fit in" with the generally accept ed idea. which is that if a person, after being sworn on oath to speak the truth, swears falsely he is guilty or such of- fense. This is correct with the impor- tant qualification that the fact the wit ness has sworn to must be material to the case. Thus if a witness on being duly sworn gave a false address on be- ing asked where he lived, this though untrue, would not amount to perjury, as the place where the witness lived would be quite immater'al
 That a person may be guilty of per iury though speaking the truth may seem a surious anomaly but such, new ertheless, is the fact. as the test of per fury is not whether person is speaking what he believes to be the truth; so, if witness, for instance, on being asked, what color tie was the prisoner wear ing when you met him?" replied fred" when in fact he did not really not ce, 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 insurance against burglary might note that this , crime can only be committed between the hours of g D. 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 is.
 We must not conclude this article without a short reference to compar- atively recent case in which man, not possess'nc the means to pay, entered a [ restaurant, where he ordered and ate good dinner; as, however, he was una ble to pay for the same he was given in charge, and subsequently indicted for obtaining goods by false pretences." The case resulted in the prisoners ac- quittal on the ground that he had not been guilty of any false pretences.
 The lucky individual, therefore, had a good meal on the cheap, but we should not advise any enterprising reader to emulate his example, as, although he could not indeed be prosecuted for ob- taining goods by false pretences 1t seems that he will still be criminally liable under the bankruptcy act for ob- taining credit by fraudulent means.- London Tit Bits.