falsely, fraudulently, and deceitfully intending one A. S. with false cards and false play, falsely, unlawfully, unjustly, fraudulently, and deceitfully to deceive and defraud, and from the said A. S. by means of the said false cards and false play, craftily and subtly, falsely, fraudulently, and deceitfully, different sums of money to acquire and obtain, then and there did solicit, excite, pro voke, and procure the said A. S. to play with them the said A. B. &c. at a certain unlawful game called whist, for divers sums of money, by means whereof the said A. S. did then and there play with the said A. B. &c. at the said unlawful game called whist, for divers sums of money, and that the said A. B. &c. did then and there, with force and arms, at the said unlawful game called whist, by means of false cards and false play, subtly,* falsely, unlawfully, and fraudulently receive, have, and obtain into their own hands and possession, the sum of 807. of lawful monies of the said A. S. and from the said A. S. and the same did then and there carry away, to the great damage, &c. and against the peace, &c. (b).

(2nd count, for cheating at a game of dice called pas-. sage.) intending as aforesaid, on, &c. at, &c. subtly, falsely, unlawfully, &c. did solicit, excite, provoke, and procure the said A. S. to play with them the said A. B. &c. at a certain unlawful game called passage, for divers sums of money, by means whereof the said A. S. did then and there play with the said A. B. &c. at the said

others, Ray. 103. So in the King v. Orbell, 6 Mod. 42. the defendant was convicted upon a charge of having run a a foot-race fraudulently, with a view to cheat a third person, by means of a private confederacy and agreement between himself and his competitor that

he should win.

And, in general, wherever the fraud is of such a nature as immediately to affect the crown or the public, it is indictable though it arise out of a particular transaction or contract:

as where the defendant, who had

contracted to supply French prisoners with provisions, was indicted for supplying them with unwholesome food, not fit to be eaten. R. v. Treeve, East. P. C. 824.; or where an apprentice eulists and receives bounty money, with

out the consent of his master. R. v. Jones, 1 Leach, 208. East. P. C. 822.

(b) R. v. Arnope, Trem. 91. and see R. v. Betsworth, Trem. 93.

HH

unlawful game called passage, for divers sums of money, and that the said A. B. &c. did then and there, with false dice and by false throwing of the same, that is to say, by slurring the said dice subtly, &c. (as before, from the to the end.)

122. Indictment for selling cloth with the alneager's seal counterfeited thereon (c).

That A. B. &c. being persons of bad name, fame, and conversation, on, &c. with force and arms, at, &c. contriving, and falsely, fraudulently, and deceitfully intending to deceive and defraud our said lord the king of the profit of the subsidy of cloth, unlawfully, unjustly, falsely, fraudulently, and deceitfully, counterfeited and forged, and caused and procured to be counterfeited and forged, a certain seal, to the likeness and similitude of the seal of the alneager and collector of the said subsidy, and then and there, with force and arms, falsely, &c. and without any legal warrant or authority, 30 pieces of woollen cloth called serge, of the goods and chattels of some person unknown, with the said false and counterfeited seal did, and each of them did seal and cause to be sealed; and that the said A. B. &c. the aforesaid 30 pieces of woollen cloth called serge, so as aforesaid sealed with the said false and forged seal, then and there with force and arms, &c. unlawfully, &c. delivered the same to divers persons unknown, as aud for 30 pieces of woollen cloth lawfully sealed by the collector of the said subsidy of our said lord the king, to the intent that the same pieces of woollen cloth should be exposed to sale, and sold without any further sealing, in deceit of our said lord the king and divers of his subjects, and against the peace, &c.

123. Indictment at common law for uttering a counterfeit half guinea.

(Comm. as in pr. 1.) One piece of false money, made of base metals, and coloured with a certain wash producing the colour of gold, to the likeness and similitude of a piece of good, lawful, and current gold money and coin

(e) R. v. Edwards, Trem. 103.

of this realm called an half guinea, unlawfully, unjustly, and deceitfully did utter and pay to one C. D. for and as a piece of good and lawful gold money and coin of this realm called an half guinea, he the said A. B. then and there well knowing the said piece to be false and counterfeit as aforesaid, to the great damage of the said C. D. and against the peace, &c.

124. Indictment for selling by false scales.

That A. B. late of, &c. labourer, on, &c. and from thence until the taking of this inquisition, did use and exercise the trade and business of a shopkeeper, and during that time did deal in the buying and selling, by weight, of divers goods, wares, and merchandizes, to wit, at, &c. and that the said A. B. contriving and intending to cheat and defraud the subjects of our said lord the king, whilst he exercised the said trade and business, to wit, on, &c. at, &c. did knowingly, wilfully, and publicly keep in a certain shop there, wherein he carried on his said trade and business, a certain false pair of scales for the weighing of goods, wares, and merchandizes by him sold in the way of his said trade, which said scales were then and there, by artful means, so made and constructed as to cause the goods, wares, and merchandizes weighed therein and sold thereby, to appear of greater weight than the real and true weight, by one eighth part of such apparent weight, and that the said A. B. on, &c. at, &c. well knowing the said scales to be so constructed and made, did knowingly and fraudulently sell to one C. D. (d) a subject of our said lord the king, certain goods in the way of his trade, to wit, a large quantity of flour weighed in and by the said false scales, as and for 100 pounds of flour, whereas in truth and in fact the weight of the said flour so weighed and sold as aforesaid, was short and deficient (e) of the

(d) In Gibbs's case, Str. 497. an indictment, alleging the sale of goods in unlawful measures to divers faithful subjects to the jurors unknown, was holden to be sufficient, see p. 176. But it is proper to allege the sale to

a person by name, if he can be ascertained.

(e) In the last-mentioned case the indictment was quashed for not ascertaining the quantity. See p. 184. and the cases there referred to.

said weight of 100 pounds by one eighth part of the said weight of 100 pounds, to wit, at, &c. to the great damage of the said C. D. and against the peace, &c.

125. Indictment for deception in the sale of wine by bartering and false pretending (f).

That M. M. late of, &c. gentleman, and A. F. late of the same place, gentleman, being greedy of dishonest. gain, and wickedly, falsely, deceitfully, and maliciously intending to defraud T. C. of London, haberdasher, of his monies, goods, and merchandises, on, &c. at, &c. together deceitfully bargained with the aforesaid T. C. to barter, sell, and exchange a certain quantity of pretended wine as good and true new wine of the kingdom of Portugal, called new Lisbon wine, of him the said A. F. for a certain quantity of hats of him the said T. C. to the value of one hundred and eighteen pounds, of good and lawful money of Great-Britain; and upon the bartering, sale, and exchange aforesaid, he the said A. F. took upon himself and pretended to be a merchant of London, and to trade and merchandize as a merchant in wines of the kingdom of Portugal aforesaid, and then and there personated a merchant of London, as if he had been a true merchant of London, when in fact he the aforesaid A. F. never was a merchant of London, nor did he trade or merchandize as a merchant in wines of the kingdom of Portugal, or in any wine whatsoever as a merchant; and upon the bartering, sale, and exchange aforesaid he the said M. M. took upon himself to be a broker of London, when in fact he the said M. M. at the time of the bartering, sale, and bargaining aforesaid, or at any time afterwards, was not a broker of London; and the aforesaid T. C. giving credit to the said fictitious assumptions, personatings, and deceits, did then and there barter, sell, and exchange to the said A. F. and did deliver to him the said M. M. as the broker between the aforesaid T. C. and A. F. a certain quantity of hats, of the value of one hun

(f) From Ld. Ray. 1179. R. v. Mackarty and Fordenburgh, it seems that the judgment was ultimately given for

the queen, on the ground of the conspiracy. 2 Burr. 1129. 6 Mod. 302. East. P. C. 824.

dred and eighteen pounds, for (g) of the pretended wine aforesaid; and that the aforesaid M. M. and A. F. upon the bartering, bargaining, and sale aforesaid, did affirm, that the aforesaid pretended wine was true new wine of the kingdom of Portugal aforesaid, called new Lisbon wine, and was the wine of the aforesaid A. F. when in truth and in fact the aforesaid pretended wine was not wine of the kingdom of Portugal, nor was it drinkable or wholesome, nor was it the wine of the aforesaid A. F. to the great deceit and damage of him the said T. C. and against the peace, &c.

126. Indictment for defrauding a person of a sum of money, by colour of a false and counterfeit letter, and other false tokens, upon the stat. 33 Hen. 8. c. 1 (h). That L. P. late of, &c. miller, on, &c. at, &c. falsely

(g) On account of this blank, and not giving a true description of the quality of the wine, &c. the defendants' counsel contended on motion, that the judgment ought to be arrested, but it was affirmed for the queen. 2 Lord Raym. 1179.

(h) The preamble of which recites, that evil disposed persons devising how they might unlawfully get into their possession goods, chattels, and jewels of other persons, have of late, to avoid the punishment of theft, falsely and deceitfully contrived and devised privy* tokens and counterfeit

letters in other men's names, unto divers persons their special friends and acquaintances, for the obtaining of money, goods, &c. of the same persons their friends and acquaintances, by colour whereof they have unlawfully obtained the same, ENACTS, that if any person or persons shall falsely and deceitfully obtain, or get into his or their hands or possession, any money, goods, chattels, jewels, or other things, of any other person or persons, by means of any such false token or counterfeit letter, made in any other man's name as aforesaid, and shall be thereof

* A mere false affirmation is not within the statute. R. v. Munoz, Str. 1127. 7 Mod. 315.; and a written document is not within the act, unless it be made in the name of a third person, and calculated to gain some credit beyond the mere assertion of the defendant, Lara's case, 6 T. R. 565; Wil. ders's case, East. P. C. 827.