Case Name: STATE v. C. W. BAKER
Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Decision Date: 1930-10-22
Citations: 199 N.C. 578
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE v. C. W. BAKER.
Judges: 
Reporter: North Carolina Reports
Volume: 199
Pages: 578–582

Head Matter:
STATE v. C. W. BAKER.
(Filed 22 October, 1930.)
1. Bills and Notes I f — “Bad Check Law” is to he strictly construed as a ci’imiual statute.
Our “bad check law” is a criminal statute and must be strictly construed, and in order íor a drawer or maker of a cheek to be convicted thereunder it is necessary that he have knowledge at the time of drawing the check that he did not have sufficient funds and had not arranged with the drawee bank for its payment upon presentation.
2. Same — Evidence in this case held insufficient to go to jury as to principal’s criminal liability for check drawn by agent.
Where, in a prosecution under our bad check law, the evidence tends to show that the defendant was a fish dealer and had arranged with another to buy for him as his agent, and had furnished him a blank check book and authorized him to draw cheeks on his account signed in his name by the other as agent, and that the agent drew a check in payment of oysters as authorized and that the check was returned marked “insufficient funds,” and there is no evidence that at the time the check was drawn the principal had knowledge of the drawing of the check or the amount thereof: Held, the evidence is insufficient to show knowledge required for conviction under the statute, and judgment as of nonsuit should have been entered. O. S., 4643.
Stacy, C. J., concurring; Adams, J., dissenting.
Appeal by defendant from Barnhill, J., and a jury, at June Term, 1930, of Cabteret.
Reversed.,
Attorney-General Brummitt .and Assistant Attorney-General Nash for the State.
Louis W. Gaylord for defendant.

Opinion:
ClaeksoN, J.
The defendant was indicted under chapter 62, Public Laws 1927, generally known as the "Bad Check Law," as follows: "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, to draw, make, utter or issue and deliver to another, any cheek or draft on any bank or depository, for the payment of money or its equivalent, knowing at the time of the making, drawing, uttering, issuing and delivering such cheek or draft as aforesaid, that the maker or drawer thereof has not sufficient funds on deposit in or credit with such bank or depository with which to pay the same upon presentation. Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The word 'credit' as used herein shall be construed to mean an arrangement or understanding with the bank or depository for the payment of any such check or draft."
The defendant introduced no evidence, and at the close of the State's evidence made a motion to dismiss the action. O. S., 4643. This motion of defendant was overruled by the court below and in this we think there was error. The evidence on the part of the State was to the effect that the defendant, who lived at Greenville, N. 0., employed one Leland Mason to buy fish and oysters for him, in Carteret County, N. C. He gave him a cheek book with blank checks in it, on the Greenville Banking and Trust Company, with authority to draw checks on defendant's account in said bank. Mason drew a check on said bank payable to Gaskill Bros., of Morehead City, N. 0., for oysters purchased by him from them on 11 February, 1930. The check was for $72.60, and the oysters were delivered on defendant's truck. The check was signed "C. W. Baker, by Leland Mason." The check was deposited by Gaskill Bros., and returned unpaid for insufficient funds. Other checks signed this way by Mason were paid. Baker was not present when the check was given by Mason.
Criminal statutes are construed strictly. The statute requires, as one of the ingredients of the crime, that when the check is delivered to another that the maker or drawer must have knowledge that he has insufficient funds on deposit in or credit with the bank on which the check is drawn, with which to pay same on presentation. S. v. Crawford, 198 N. C., 522. The check was not drawn by defendant, but by his agent, Mason, and Baker was not! present; so, at the time the cheek was drawn and delivered to Gaskill Bros, by Mason, there is no -evidence that defendant knew .either the time or the amount of the check that was drawn. At the time the check was delivered, the record discloses no evidence that Baker had actual or implied knowledge that there was insufficient funds on deposit, or such actual or implied knowledge so that he could make arrangements to have credit with the bank to meet the check. One cannot be convicted of a crime on conjecture. Of course defendant is liable on the record in a civil action, and it goes without saying that he should pay his debt contracted by his agent for the oysters he received, but to convict him for a crime under the statute, either actual or implied knowledge is necessary when the check is delivered. The evidence is mere conjecture on this record and not sufficient to be submitted to a jury. The judgment is
Reversed.