Opinion ID: 2171181
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Incorporation

Text: The manner in which a reproduced instrument may be safely made a part of the indictment poses another problem. We cannot say arbitrarily that the affixation to the paper on which the charge is written is invalid, for in lengthy indictments it has long been a custom to bind several sheets together as one instrument and in that sense the sheets have been affixed to one another. The basis of concern is that by improper affixation, the reproduced instrument or a portion may become detached from the indictment and lost before the case is recorded, and leave the respondent exposed to double jeopardy by subsequently being unable to show that he has been once jeopardized. With this risk in mind, we can say only that an affixation of the impleaded instrument to the charge sheet in a manner to reduce its detachment to a minimum would be by us considered valid. In the instant case the reproduced instrument was attached to the charge sheet immediately following the charge and before the certification by the signature of the foreman of the grand jury, and the signature of the county attorney. The law requires that the instrument be within the indictment, and we have long incorporated in legal documents separate papers to which reference is hereby made or as attached hereto and made a part hereof. 42 C.J.S. Incorporation, page 544; in Equity Pleading, Whitehouse Equity Practice § 201; 17A C.J.S. Contracts § 299; 12 Am.Jur., Contracts § 245; 26 C.J.S. Deeds § 101, Wills; Newton v. Seaman's Friend Society, 130 Mass. 91, and in a criminal indictment Whitfield v. State, 37 Okl.Cr. 37, 256 P. 68 [1,2] (1927). If the subject instrument is verbally incorporated, by appropriate language, and proposed to be physically incorporated, it should be attached to the charge sheet at the point of proposed incorporation and thereafter followed by the remainder of the charge and the requisite certification and signatures. To fully inform the respondent of the charge which he is called upon to defend requires a legible charge sheet. An illegible charge sheet is exposed to abatement.