CONSPIRACY is a criminal offence which consists of the intention and agreement of two or more persons to do an unlaufill act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means. When two or more persons agree to carry the intention into effect the very plot has been said to be the act itself, and the act of each of the parties promise against promise, capable of being enforced by the law if lawful, but punishable by the law if for a criminal object or the use of criminal means. The whole subject of conspiracy is too extensive and technical to permit of any adequate attempt at its exposition within the limits of this work. It may be useful, however, to give a few examples of the offence.
Where A. and II., in each other, falsely pretended to C. that a horse which they had for sale had been the property of a lady deceased, and was then the property of her sister, and was not then the property of any horsedealer, and that the horse was quiet to ride and drive, and by these inducements induced C. to purchase the horse, they were found guilty of con spiracy, although the money by obtained through the medium 8f a contract. To get money out of a man by conspiring to charge him with a false fact is a conspiracy, whether the fact charged is criminal or not in itself. In one case where certain brokers agreed together, before a sale by auction, that one only of them should bid for each article sold, and that all articles thus bought by any of them should be sold again among themselves at a fair price, and the difference between the auction price and the fair price divided among them, these facts were held to constitute a conspiracy for which the brokers could be indicted. A mock auction with sham bidders, who pretend to be real
bidders, for the purpose of selling goods at prices grossly above their worth, is an offence at common law ; any persons aiding and abettipg such a pro ceeding may be indicted for a conspiracy with intent to defraud. So also may it be a conspiracy to obtain goods without the intention of paying for them, as where A. obtained goods on credit at B.'s suggestion, in order that A. might sell them to B. below their value, 13. aiding A. as a referee, and giving him a character. And in like manner where A. bribes 13., who is C.'s servant, to sell to him the employer's goods at less than their authorised price; or where traders dispose of their goods in contemplation of bank ruptcy, with intent to defraud the creditors. And see RESTRAINT OF TRADE, and RIGGING THE MARKET.