II. That if any person shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any bill, note, receipt, debenture, or other security, entitling or evidencing the title of any person or persons, or of any body corporate, to any share or interest in any public loan, stock, or fund, whether of the United Kingdom, or of any part of it, or of this or any other of Her Majesty's colonial possessions, or of any foreign state, colony, or possession, or in any fund of any body corporate, company, or society, or in any savings' or other bank or banks, or any indorsements on or assignment of any such bill, note, receipt, debenture, or other security, or any will, testament, codicil, or testamentary writing, or any bill of exchange, or any promissory note for the payment of money, or any acceptance of any bill of exchange, or any undertaking, warrant, or order for the payment of money, or any indorsement on or assignment of any bill of exchange, or promissory note, undertaking, warrant, or order for the payment of money, with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to defraud any person whatsoever, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years.

No. 1. Act 4 Vic.

c. 31.

Penalty for forging any

note, bill, &c., with intent to

defraud.

Penalty for wilfully making false entry

any

in books at the

Penalty for

wilfully forging, &c., any public loan, stock, or fund, &c., &c.

III. That if any person shall wilfully make any false entry in, or wilfully alter any word or figure in any of the books of account, kept at the public bank of this colony, or shall in any manner wilfully falsify the account of any owner of any stock of such bank, Public Bank. or of any depositor of money in such Bank, with intent, in any of the cases aforesaid, to defraud any person whatsoever, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years. IV. That if any person shall forge or alter, or shall utter knowing the same to be forged or altered, any transfer of any share or interest of or in any public loan, stock, or fund, which now is or hereafter may be transferable or payable at the public bank or at the public treasury of these islands, or of or in the stock or funds of any body corporate, or of any company or society, or shall forge or alter, or shall utter, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any power of attorney, or any other authority, to transfer any share or interest of or in any such public loan, stock, or fund, or other stock or fund as is hereinbefore mentioned, or to receive any dividend or interest money payable in respect of any such share or interest, or shall demand or endeavour to have any such share or interest transferred, or to receive any dividend or interest money payable in respect thereof, by virtue of any such forged or altered power of attorney, or other authority, knowing the same to be forged or altered, with intent, in any of the several cases aforesaid, to defraud any person whatsoever, or if any person shall falsely and deceitfully personate any owner of any such share, interest, or dividend, as as aforesaid, and thereby transfer, or endeavour to transfer, any such share or interest belonging to such owner, or thereby receive or endeavour to receive any money due to such owner, as if such person was the true and lawful owner, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years.

V. That if any person shall forge the name or handwriting of any person, as or purporting to be a witness, attesting the execution of any power of attorney or other authority, to transfer any

Penalty for deceitfully per

sonating the owner of any share, &c.

Penalty for forging the handwriting of a witness to

No. 1.

Act 4 Vic. c. 31.

power of attorney.

Penalty

for wilfully forging any deed, &c.

Penalty for the unauthorized acknowledgments of a recognizance.

Penalty for the unauthorized engraving any Bill of Exchange.

share or interest of or in any such stock, annuity, public fund, or capital stock, as is hereinbefore mentioned, or to receive any dividend payable in respect of any such share or interest, or shall utter any such power of attorney or other authority, with the name or handwriting of any person forged thereon as an attesting witness, knowing the same to be forged, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years.

VI. That if any person shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, knowing the same be forged or altered, any deed, bond, or writing, obligatory, or any acquittance or receipt, either for money or goods, or for any note, bill, or other security for payment of money, or any warrant, order, or request for the delivery or transfer of goods, or for the delivery of any note, bill, or other security for the payment of money, with intent to defraud any person whatsoever, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years.

VII. That if any person shall, before any Court, Judge, or other person lawfully authorized to take any recognizance of bail, acknowledge any recognizance of bail, in the name of any other person not privy or consenting to the same, whether such recognizance of bail in either case be or be not filed; or if any person shall, in the name of any other person not privy or consenting to the same, acknowledge any fine, recovery, cognovit actionem, or judgment, or any deed to be enrolled, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years.

VIII. That if any person shall engrave, or in anywise make upon any plate whatsoever, or upon any wood, stone, or other material, any bill of exchange, or promissory note, for the payment of money, or any part of any bill of exchange, or promissory note, for the payment of money, purporting to be the bill or note, or part of the bill or note of any person or persons, body corporate, or mercantile company, without the authority of such person or persons, body corporate or company, the proof of which authority shall lie on the party accused, or if any person shall engrave, or make upon any plate whatever, or upon any wood, stone, or other material, any word or words resembling, or apparently intended to resemble, any subscription subjoined to any bill of exchange or promissory note, for the payment of money issued by any such person or persons, body corporate, or company carrying on the business of bankers without such authority, to be proved as aforesaid; or if any person shall, without such authority, to be proved as aforesaid, use, or shall without lawful excuse, to be proved by the party accused, knowingly have in his custody or possession, any plate, wood, stone, or other material, upon which any such bill or note, or part thereof, or any word or words resembling, or apparently intended to resemble, such subscription, shall be engraved or made: or if any person shall, without such authority, to be proved as aforesaid, knowingly offer, utter, dispose of, or put off, or shall, without lawful excuse to be proved as aforesaid, knowingly have in his custody or possession any paper upon which any part of such bill or note, or any word or words resembling, or apparently intended to resemble any such subscription shall be made or printed :

every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years.

No. 1. Act 4 Vic. C. 31.

Discretion as to punishment

IX. That when any person shall be convicted of any offence punishable under this Act, it shall be lawful for the Court to sentence the offender to be imprisoned with or without hard labour, of offenders. within or without the walls of any lawful prison within these islands, and also to direct that the offender shall be kept in solitary confinement, for any portion or portions of such imprisonment, or of such imprisonment with hard labour, not exceeding one month at any one time, and not exceeding three months in any one year as to the Court in its discretion shall seem meet.

the terms " custoy," "per

son.

X. That where the having any matter in the custody or pos- Definition of session of any person, is in this Act expressed to be an offence, if any person shall have such matter in his personal custody or possession, or shall knowingly and wilfully have any such matter in any dwelling-house or other building, lodging, apartment, field, or other place, open or enclosed, whether belonging to or occupied by himself or not, and whether such matter shall be so had for his own use, or for the use or benefit of another, every such person shall be deemed and taken to have such matter in his custody or possession, within the meaning of this Act, and where the committing any offence with intent to defraud any person whatsoever is made punishable by this Act, in every such case the word "person," shall, throughout this Act, be deemed to include Her Majesty, or any foreign prince or state, or any body corporate, or any company or society of persons not incorporated, or any person or number of persons whatsoever who may be intended to be defrauded by such offence, whether such body corporate, company, society, person, or number of persons whatsoever, who may be intended to be defrauded by such offence, shall reside or carry on business within these islands or elsewhere, in any place or country, whether under the dominion of Her Majesty or not; and it shall be sufficient in any indictment to name one person only of such company, society, or number of persons, and to allege the offence to have been committed with intent to defraud the person so named and another, or others, as the case may be.

XI. Act to commence on the thirty-first day of March, 1841.

(Passed 22nd July,

1856.

WH

1856. Confirmed 11th December, 1856.)

HEREAS the imputation of incontinency (except in cases PREamble. where it is the cause of some actual damage of a temporal nature) is not the subject of an action at Common Law, but a matter exclusively belonging to the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Court: And whereas, there is no such Ecclesiastical Court in this colony;

No. 1.

and therefore such an imputation, although calculated in may cases Ord. No 6, to inflict on innocent persons grievous wrongs, and for which they 1856. can at present have no redress: And whereas, it is necessary that protection should be afforded to the character of individuals, as well from false and malicious imputations of the nature before mentioned, as from any other slander or libel; May it, &c., That from henceforth any false, scandalous, and malicious imputation of incontinency shall, and may form, a ground for an action at law, and shall also render the person making the same liable to be proceeded against in all respects as persons charged with libel or slander may now be.

No. 1. Act 4 W. 4, c. 25.

Coroner to put in writing the evidence taken by him before a Jury.

Justices and Coroners may be tried for neglect at the discretion of the Judges of the Supreme Court.

Punishment of accessaries before the fact to felony, for counselling,

procuring, &c., another to commit a felony.

CLASS VII.

CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN SUPERIOR COURTS. No. 1.-4 Wm. 4, ch. 25. An Act for improving the Administration of Criminal Justice in these islands, for suspending certain Acts therein mentioned, and for other purposes. (February 15th, 1834.)

I. II. & III. Sections of this Act relating to the taking of bail by Justices of the Peace in cases of felony, and the taking of examinations and informations in cases of felonies and misdemeanours, and binding persons by recognizance to prosecute and give evidence, are repealed by Ordinance No. 4, 1855.

IV. That every Coroner upon any inquisition before him taken whereby any person shall be indicted for manslaughter or murder, or as an accessary to murder before the fact, shall put in writing the evidence given to the jury before him, or as much thereof as shall be material, and shall have authority to bind, by recognizance, all such persons as know or declare anything material, touching the said manslaughter or murder, or the said offence, of being accessory to murder, to appear at the next sitting of the Supreme Court, then and there to prosecute or give evidence against the party charged; and every such Coroner shall certify and subscribe the same evidence, and all such recognizances and also the inquisition before him taken, and shall deliver the same to the proper officer of the said Court.

V. That if any Justice or Coroner shall offend in anything contrary to the true intent and meaning of these provisions, the Court, to whose officer any such examination, information, evidence, bailment, recognizance, or inquisition, ought to have been delivered, shall, upon examination and proof of the offence, in a summary manner, set such fine upon every such Justice or Coroner, as the Court shall think meet.

VI. And for the more effectual prosecution of accessaries before the fact of felony; Be it, &c., That if any person shall counsel, procure, or command any other person to commit any felony, whether the same be a felony at common law, or by virtue of any statute or statutes made or to be made, the person so counselling, procuring or commanding, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and may be indicted and convicted, either as an accessary before the fact to the principal felony, together with the principal felon, or

after the conviction of the principal felon, or may be indicted and convicted of a substantive felony, whether the principal felon shall or shall not have been previously convicted, or shall or shall not be amenable to Justice, and may be punished in the same manner as any accessary before the fact to the same felony, if convicted as an accessary may be punished; and the offence of the person so counselling, procuring, or commanding, howsoever indicted, may be inquired of, tried, determined, and punished by any Court which shall have jurisdiction to try the principal felon, in the same manner as if such offence had been committed at the same place as the principal felony, although such offence may have been committed either on the high seas or at any place on land, whether within His Majesty's dominions or without: Provided always, That no person who shall be once tried for any such offence, whether as an accessary before the fact or as for a substantive felony, shall be liable to be again indicted or tried for the same offence.

VII. And for the more effectual prosecution of accessaries after the fact to felony; Be it, &c., That if any person shall become an accessary after the fact to any felony, whether the same be a felony at common law or by virtue of any statute or statutes made or to be made, the offence of such person may be inquired of, tried, determined, and punished by any Court which shall have jurisdiction to try the principal felon, in the same manner as if the Act, by reason whereof such person shall have become an accessary, had been committed at the same place as the principal felony, although such Act may have been committed either on the high seas, or at any place on land, whether within His Majesty's dominions or without: Provided always, That no person who shall be once duly tried for any offence of being an accessary, shall be liable to be again indicted or tried for the same offence.

victed and

VIII. And in order that all accessaries may be convicted and Accessaries punished in cases where the principal felon is not attainted; Be it, may be con&c., That if any principal offender shall be in anywise convicted punished where of any felony, it shall be lawful to proceed against any accessary, the principal either before or after the fact, in the same manner as if such prin- is not attainted. cipal felon had been attainted thereof, notwithstanding such principal felon shall die, or be admitted to the benefit of clergy, or pardoned, or otherwise delivered before attainder: and every such accessary shall suffer the same punishment, if he or she be in anywise convicted, as he or she should have suffered, if the principal had been attainted.

any

IX. And in order to remove the difficulty of stating the names of all the owners of property in the case of partners and other joint owners; Be it, &c., That in any indictment or information for felony or misdemeanour, wherein it shall be requisite to state the ownership of any property whatsoever, whether real or personal, which shall belong to, or be in the possession of, more than one person, whether such persons be partners in trade, joint tenants, parceners or tenants in common, it shall be sufficient to name one of such persons, and to state such property to belong to the person so named, and another, or others, as the case may be: and whenever, in any indictment or information for any felony or misdemeanour, it shall be necessary to mention, for any purpose whatsoever, any partners, joint tenants, parceners, or tenants in common, it shall be sufficient to describe them in the manner aforesaid: and this

One of the owners is suf

ficient to be named in any

indictment to state the ownership.