Forgery/Associate Offences Flashcards
Forgery (1)
Section 256(1) CA 1961
Everyone who makes a false document with the intention of using it to obtain any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit or valuable consideration
What conducted is required to support a charge of using an altered or reproduced document with intent to deceive?
That they used it in some way and that the document had previously been altered with the intent to deceive but it is not necessary to prove who had altered it.
S258 penalty
10 years
Define
Reproduction
To make a copy or representation of or made in imitation
Define
destruction
To end the existence of
Reproducing documents with intent to deceive.
S258(1)(b)
Everyone who with intent to obtain by deception any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage benefit, valuable consideration, or to cause loss to any other person
makes a document or causes a document to be made that is, in whole or in part, a reproduction of any other document
What is the difference between forgery subsections 1 and 2?
Subsection 2 applies where there is no intention to obtain any financial or other specified advantage
Penalty for 256(1)
10 years
Define
Conceal
in relation to the subsections means:
a - the actual hiding of a document
b - the denial of its existence
c - with holding it when required to produce it
Penalty for S256(2)
3 years
What is the difference between forgery and altering/reproducing a document?
The differing intents and meaning of a document.
Forgery only requires an intent to deceive where alterting a document requires and intent to obtain by deception.
Forgery requires a false document where altering etc any document can be used
When is forgery completed?
As soon as the document is made with an intent described in 256(1) or the knowledge and intent in 256(2). The document does not need to be used.
Define
Alteration
Normal meaning
Examples of material alterations
- additions
- insertions
- deletions
- obliterations
- erasures
- removal or material or otherwise
Definition
Obtain
to obtain or retain for themselves or for any other person
Definition of a false document?
a document which in whole or part purports to be made, altered or reproduced by or on behalf of a person who did not make it or authorise it’s making, or a fictitious person or made in the name of a person with the intention that it pass as being made by someone else who didn’t make it, or a fictitious person.
IN relation to S258 what are the two alternative mental elements?
One intention is to gain something where the other is to cause loss to any other person
Forgery (2)
Section 256(2) CA 1961
Everyone who makes a false document, knowing it to be false, with the intent that it in any way be used or acted upon, whether in NZ or elsewhere, as genuine
Definition
Property
Property includes any real or personal property, and any estate or interest in any real or personal property, money, electricity, and any debt, and any thing in action, and any other right or interest
What are the mental elements required for S259
- defendant knew document had been altered with intent to deceive
- that the defendant intended to obtain by deception
- The defendant intended to retain any property etc or to cause a loss
Does the forged document have to be complete to constitute the offence and why/why not?
The offence is still complete even if the false document is incomplete or doesn’t purport to be a binding document in law, if its made and indicates that it was intended to be acted upon as genuine
Is a photocopy of a false document itself a false document?
No as it only claims to be a copy and therefore does not tell a lie about itself
When is an offence complete against S258(1)
As soon as the document is made or altered with the referred intent regardless of whether or not the defendant intended that any particular person should
- use or act upon the document
- act on the basis of the absent/destroyed document
- be induced to or refrained from doing anything
How many a defendant ‘cause’ a document to be altered, destroyed etc…
arranging the necessary actions by another person or using a computer programme
Definition
Valuable Consideration
Money or moneys worth
What makes an alteration an material alteration?
if the alteration increases the value of negotiability of a document or instrument.
How does intent to deceive fit into forgery offences?
It is not an essential element as long as the prosecution proves that at the time of the alleged act the offender had either intended to use the false document to obtain or that it was to be used or acted upon as genuine
Definition
Service
Services is limited to financial or economic value, and excludes privileges or benefits
Altering, concealing, destroying with intent to deceive.
S258(1)(a)
Everyone who with intent to obtain by deception any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage benefit, valuable consideration, or to cause loss to any other person
alters, conceals, destroys any document or causes any document to be altered, concealed or destroyed
Using altered or reproduced document with intent to deceive
b
S259(1)(b)
Every one who, knowing any document to have been made or altered in the manner and with the intent referred to in section 258, with intent to obtain by deception any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration, or to cause loss to any other person,—
(b)
causes any person to use or deal with, or act upon, the document.
Definition
Pecuniary Advantage
Hayes v R
A pecuniary advantage is anything that enhances the accused financial position. It is that enhancement which constitutes the element of advantage.
Using altered or reproduced document with intent to deceive
a
S259(1)(a)
Every one who, knowing any document to have been made or altered in the manner and with the intent referred to in section 258, with intent to obtain by deception any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration, or to cause loss to any other person,—
(a)
uses, or deals with, or acts upon, the document; or
In short, what is a false document?
A document that lies about itself. But it must be the document that lies about itself or intend to convey a lie, not just simply a lie recorded on a document.
