Johnson v. State

Citations

• 9 Tex. Ct. App. 249

Syllabus

<p>1. Uttering Forged Instruments. — Though, as held in Rogers v. The State, 8 Texas Ot. App. 400, an official instrument, such as an officer’s certificate of the acknowledgment of a deed, was not legally susceptible of forgery, in this State, prior to the act of 1876 “toprovide for the detection and conviction of all forgers of land-titles,” it is nevertheless an offence to knowingly utter as true a fabricated certificate of that nature, though fabricated before the passage of said act of 1876. See the opinion in extenso on this subject.</p> <p>2. Title of Act. — All the provisions of the said act of 1876 are germane to its title, and there is nothing therein which contravenes the constitutional requirement that an act shall embrace but one subject, and that it shall be expressed in the title of the act.</p> <p>3. Evidence. — The Code of Procedure enacts that the common-law rules of evidence shall govern in criminal trials, when not in conflict with statutory law, and also that the statutory rules of evidence in civil suits shall, as far as applicable, govern in criminal trials, when not in conflict with the Codes. But when evidence is offered by virtue of either of these provisions, the conditions precedent to its competency must be complied with.</p> <p>4. Same — Practice. —In a trial for the utterance of a forged certificate of acknowledgment, it was shown that the certificate and the accompanying deed were last seen in the possession of the defendant, and that he had been notified to produce them; whereupon the State was allowed, without further preliminary, and over objection by the defence, to prove that the deed and certificate had been duly recorded, and to introduce as evidence a certified copy from the record. Held, error. To make the copy evidence at common law, proof was necessary that it was a true copy of the originals; and to make it evidence under art. 2257 of the Revised Statutes, the prerequisites thereof, in respect of affidavit, filing, and noti