People v. White

Citations

• 34 Cal. 183

Syllabus

<p>Constitutionality of Section Seventy-Eight of the Act in ¡Relation to Chimes and Punishments.—The seventy-eighth section of the Act concerning crimes and punishments, providing for the punishment of counterfeiting money, etc., is not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or the laws of Congress made in pursuance thereof.</p> <p>Indictment—Sufficiency of.—An indictment is sufficient in substance if it describes the offense charged in the language of the statute by which it is created or defined.</p> <p>Section Seventy-Eight of the Statute in ¡Relation to Crimes and Punishments Construed.—To constitute the crime of knowingly having in possession counterfeiting tools, implements, etc., as created by the seventy-eighth section of the statute in relation to crimes and punishments, it is not only necessary to prove the known possession thereof by the defendant, but that such possession was with criminal intent.</p> <p>Idem.—To constitute crime there must be a joint operation of act and criminal intent, or criminal negligence.</p> <p>Construction of Statutes.—To determine the true interpretation of the terms of a doubtful or ambiguous section, it is proper to read it in connection with others in the same Act dealing with the same general subject.</p> <p>Settlement of Bills of Exceptions in Criminal Cases.—The provisions of section four hundred and thirty-five of the Criminal Practice Act, prescribing the time within which bills of exceptions shall be tendered and settled are directory.</p> <p>Sufficiency of Bills of Exceptions.—A bill of exceptions founded upon the allowance of a question stated, to which objection is made, which does not contain the answer thereto, is fatally defective.</p> <p>Proof of Criminal Intent.—On the trial of a defendant for the crime of knowingly having in his possession counterfeiting tools and implements, it is competent, for the purpose of showing the criminal intent of such possession, for the people to prove that the defend