Falsification - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition falsification

Definition :

Falsification.

1. Pedigree.--For a vendor or mortgagor or other person disposing of property or any interest therein for money or money's worth to a purchaser of land or chattels real or personal, or for his solicitor or other agent to conceal from the purchaser any instrument or incumbrance material to the title or to falsify any pedigree upon which the title may depend, in order to induce a purchaser or mortgagee or his solicitor to accept the title offered, is a misdemeanour punishable by fine or imprisonment with or without hard labour, or both, for not more than two years, by the (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 183, extend-ing the (English) Law of Property Amendment Act, 1859 (22 & 23 Vict. c. 35), s. 24 (Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Conveyancing'), and the falsifier is also liable to an action for damages by the same enactment. The fiat of the Attorney-General is required before comm-encing a prosecution. [(English) L.P. Act, 1925, s. 183]

2. Official Documents.--Making any material altera-tion in any official document or in any copy thereof, with intent to defraud or deceive, is felony punishable by penal servitude up to seven years by s. 3(3) of the (English) Forgery Act, 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5, c. 27); and see the Act generally.

3. Books or Accounts by Clerks.--The (English) Falsification of Accounts Act, 1875 (37 & 39 Vict. c. 24), which applies only to clerks, officers, etc., enacts that:

if any clerk, officer, or servant, or any person employed or acting in the capacity of a clerk, officer, or servant, shall wilfully and with intent to defraud, destroy, alter, mutilate, or falsify any book, paper, writing, valuable security, or account which belongs to or is in the possession of his employer, or has been received by him for or on behalf of his employer, or shall wilfully and with intent to defraud make or concur in making any false entry in, or omit or alter, or concur in omitting or altering, any material particular from or in any such book, or any document, or account, then in every such case the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable to be kept in penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding two years.

See as to falsification of accounts, Re Arton, (1896) 1 QB 509; R. v. Palin, (1906) 1 KB 7.

4. Falsification by Director or other Officer of a Company.--The (English) Companies Act, 1929, by s. 272 makes this a misdemeanour on the part of a director, officer, or contributory of a company, and see also ss. 82-84 of the Larceny Act, 1861. S. 217, Comp. Act, 1908 (as to which see Re London and Globe Financial Corporation, (1903) 1 Ch 728], authorized liquidators to prosecute by direction of the High Court in the event of a winding-up. This s. has been repealed, replaced and extended by the (English) Companies Act, 1929, s. 277, and see s. 362. See generally Arch. Cr. Pl.