People v. Bendit

Citations

• 111 Cal. 274
• 43 P. 901
• 1896 Cal. LEXIS 575

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law — Forgery — Signature of Receipted Bill as Agent without Authority—False Pretenses.—The signature of a receipted bill, signed in the office of the debtor, by one fraudulently acting as collector without authority, who signed the name of the creditor, in liis own liandwriting, and appended initials thereto, to indicate that he signed it as agent, without attempting to simulate the handwriting of the creditor, is not an act of forgery, there being no false making or counterfeiting of the instrument, but merely a false assumption of authority and- the obtaining of money under false pretenses.</p> <p>Id.—Definition of Forgery—Subjects—Counterfeiting—False Making—Code, how Differing from Common Law. — The code differs from the common law as to the enumeration of what instruments are the subjects of forgery; but does not differ from the common law as to what constitutes forgery of instruments which are the subjects of forgery; and to constitute such crime there must he a forging or counterfeiting, which is the “ false making or materially altering, with intent to defraud, of any writing which, if genuine, might apparently be of legal efficacy, or the foundation of a legal liability.”</p>