Riggins v. State
Riggins v. State
Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
The appellant in this case was tried and convicted in Miami county, on a charge of attempting to pass a certain forged and counterfeited United States compound interest treasury note, of the denomination of fifty dollars.
No objection is made to the indictment for any want of form therein, but it is claimed that the paper described in the indictment as forged and counterfeited, does not come within the range of any of the class of cases designated in the laws of the state, and consequently, that the indictment is insufficient.
The appellant claims that the indictment was intended to charge the offense as a violation of sections 111, 112 and 113 of the act regulating crimes and punishments, and contends that the paper described in the indictment does not come within the range of any of the class of cases designated in those sections. In this, the counsel for the appellant are undoubtedly correct. A careful examination of those sections will clearly show that by no construction can they be made to include the securities of the United States.
But section 119 of the act above referred to, is broad enough in its terms to comprehend the instrument set out in the indictment. Among other provisions, this
At the time our criminal laws were enacted, no such paper as that described in the indictment had an existence, but the legislature evidently intended to include all cases of forgery or counterfeiting, and so protect the interests of society. To do so, they used broad and comprehensive terms, that should meet every exi
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- P. A. Riggins v. The State of Kansas
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- The securities of the United States are not included within the provisions of §§ 111, 112,113, of chapter on crimes, relating to counterfeiting, but held that they are included within the provisions of § 119 of that chapter, which prohibits the counterfeiting of “ any instrument of writing, purporting to be the act of another, by which any pecuniary obligation shall be created.” Section 124 of that chapter [Comp. L., pp. 309-10], denounces its penalties against those who, with intent to defraud, offer or attempt to pass any forged or counterfeited instrument or writing, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeited, the forging or counterfeiting of which is in the previous sections declared to be an offense. Held, that the fraudulent attempt to pass a counterfeit treasury note is an offense within the meaningpf §? 119,124, although these instruments had no existence at the time of the passage of the act of the legislature.