FORGERY (Enlarger, to form metal into shape; to fabricate), the crimen of the Roman law, is held in England, at common law, to be the fraudulent making or altering of a writing or seal, to the prejudice of another man's right, or of a stamp to the preju dice of the revenue. As regards writings, the instrument forged must be executed with such skill or hi. such circumstances as to be capable of being mistaken for a genuine document by a person of ordinary intelligence and observation. It is not necessary that there should be even an attempt at imitation. If there was intention to deceive, and the circumstances were such as to render deception possible, the crime has been com mitted, and it has consequently been held in Scotland that it is possible to forge the name of a person who cannot write (1 Alison, p. 372), and further that the crime may be committed by the adhibition of a cross or mark (Macmillan, Jan. 24, 1859). Any material alteration, however slight, is a F. just as much as the subscription of the name of the pretended maker, or the fabrication of the entire deed. It will not lessen the crime, though the whole deed should be genuine, the name only being forged, or the name being really the handwriting of the party to whom it belongs, but appended to a forged deed. Even if the name be a fictitious one, but appended for the purpose of deceiving, a F. has been committed just as much as if it beldnged to a real per son. Long before the recent extensions took place in the law of evidence, by which parties were admitted as witnesses in their own causes, it was provideed by 9 Geo. IV. c. 32, that the party whose name had been forged might be a witness to the effect that the writing was not his. But, on the other hand, it is an established rule of law that the proof of F., by a mere comparison of handwriting, is incompetent (Tailor on Evidence, p. 1428, n. 5, 2d ed.). Identification of handwriting is, if possible, more difficult than identification of the person, which so often forms the chief difficulty in criminal trials. " As illness, strange dress,- unusual attitude, and the like, cause mis takes in identifying the individual, so a bad pen. or rough paper, a shaking hand,
hurry, and many other things, change the appearance of a person's handwriting."— Dickson on Evidence, p. 474. There are besides resemblances in handwritings proceed ing from many accidental causes, so that much caution is necessary in weighing this kind of evidence. " It ought never, therefore, to be regarded as full proof by the crown in criminal trials, and even in civil cases, corroborative evidence should be required, unless the proof of handwriting is so clear as to shift the onus pvobandi." Though writing-masters, engravers, bankers' clerks, and other persons in the habit of examining handwritings, are often adduced as witnesses in trials for F., their evidence is really of very little value, and generally so conflicting that it can be produced with equal effect on either side. The best witness is one who has often seen the party write, through whose hands his writing has been continually passing, and whose opinion is not the result of an inspection made on a particular occasion for a special purpose. The act 11 Geo. IV., and 1 Will. IV. c. 60, makes the forging of the great seal:the privy seal, or any privy signet, the sign-manual, the seals of 'Scotland, or the great seal and privy seal of Ireland—treason. The same statute declares the offense of forging, or uttering with intent to defraud, stamps, exchequer bills, bank of England notes, bills of exchange, promissory notes, deeds, receipts, orders for the payment of money, transfers of stock. wills, etc., to be felony. Capital punishment was first abolished with regard to special cases of F. by 2 Geo. IV., and 1 Will. IV. c. 66. and 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 123; and then altogether done away with by 7 Will, IV. and 1 Viet. c. 84. The offender is now liable to penal servitude, the length of which is at the discretion of the court; but which cannot be for less than three years, or he may be imprisoned for not more than four, or less than two years, with or without hard labor and solitude. As to the F. of bank of England notes, see 16 Vict. c. 2. As to obtaining property by false pretenses, seo