Commonwealth v. Hall

Citations

• 24 Pa. Super. 558
• 1904 Pa. Super. LEXIS 233

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Forgery—Indictment—Evidence.</p> <p>Where a defendant is charged with the unlawful, false and fraudulent uttering and publishing of a written instrument, with the intent, etc., the failure to charge a scienter deprives him of no legal right. Of course he cannot be convicted of uttering and publishing without proving his guilty knowledge.</p> <p>Where an indictment for forgery charges the making of a note on a certain day, and a true bill is found within less than one year from the date charged, and a copy of the note appearing in the indictment gives the date as of a day more than five years prior to the date of the indictment, the court cannot give binding instructions that the prosecution is barred by the statute of limitations. In such a case it is proper to submit the indictment to the jury, and to charge that defendant cannot be convicted unless the jury are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he made or caused the note to be made within five years of the finding of the bill.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for forgery there is sufficient evidence to warrant the jury in finding that there was a forged note in the possession of the defendant, where it appears that the defendant had brought a civil action and filed a copy of the note therein which was similar to the one set out in the indictment, and a large number of witnesses testify to seeing the note, and to declarations of the defendant that he had such a note.</p>