Opinion ID: 1474108
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Indictment Within the Statute.

Text: With the smoke cleared away we can dispose of much of defendant's argument in short order, namely, his contention that he was indicted for one thing, tried for another, and neither of which was a crime under the Statute. Defendant's contention is euphonious but not meritorious. It is argued that the crime charged in the indictment is not within the Statute because the former alleges that defendant willfully omitted to set forth a, b, and c, as a part of his business and activities whereas the latter with its appropriate regulations and forms requires only a statement of the nature of registrant's business. The use of the word, part, in the indictment can be readily supported. After all, defendant did disclose some of his business. Naturally he could only omit a part, not all. That he failed to disclose a part of the activities, rather than a part of the nature of the business is too subtle a distinction in wording to make the indictment defective. The nature of one's business may be a more generic abstraction describing one's pursuit than a list of his activities, but the generalization must come from several types of activities to be an accurate definition. When a comprehensive statement of the nature of one's business is required then there must be some detail for completeness and accuracy. Moreover, the Act mentions activities as an agent, and paragraph (12), already discussed at some length, uses the word activities. By that time a registrant is notified that nature of business and activities are to be used interchangeably or at least as approximate synonyms. We cannot accept the hypertechnical argument of defendant.