State v. Layman
State v. Layman
Opinion of the Court
Indictment for obtaining a transfer of real property by false pretences. The indictment contains two counts, both charging that the defendant, with intent to cheat, &c., obtained from one Robinson Grenell the transfer of a certain valuable thing, to wit, a certain quarter section of land described in the counts in the indictment, for a consideration all paid in the notes of the “ North River Banking
The Circuit Court, on the defendant’s motion, quashed the indictment.
Two grounds are taken by the defendant’s counsel to sustain the decision of the Circuit Court.
1. It is said the indictment is bad for not containing an accurate and certain description, as in indictments for forgery, of each of the several bills on said bank, passed by the defendant to Grenell in payment for the land obtained. This objection is not well taken. The indictment charges that all the bills on said bank were worthless, as was known to Layman, defendant, and that the bills passed by him to Grenell for the land in question, were on that institution, and the false pretence was that all the bills of that bank were good. It is not a question of identity and genuineness of particular bills, but of the value of the bills of a particular bank.
The second objection to the indictment is, that it does not charge the offence created by that part of the section of the statute relative to false pretences, on which it is predicated. The whole of the section is on page 965, R. S. 1843, and is, as to the creation of offences, as follows: “ Sect.. 24. If any person, with intent to defraud or cheat another, shall designedly, by colour of any false token or writing, or by any false pretence or pretences, obtain the signature of any person to any written instrument, or obtain from any person any money, bank note or notes, treasury note or notes, goods, wares, merchandise, bond, bill of exchange, promissory note, contract, security, or order for the payment of money, or delivery or transfer of property or any thing of value, such per-son,” &c. This indictment is upon the latter clause of the
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Published