Provisions
Offences
Sections 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 of the Act came into force on 29 September 1742.
Section 1 made it high treason to "wash, gild or colour any of the lawful silver coin called a shilling or a sixpence, or counterfeit or false shilling or sixpence," or alter such a coin to make it look like a "lawful gold coin called a guinea" or half-guinea, or to file, alter, wash or colour "any of the brass monies called halfpennies or farthings, or to make those coins look like a shilling or sixpence. The last part of this section was amended by the Counterfeiting Coin Act 1797 to extend it to all copper coins ordered by royal proclamation to be current in the realm, not just halfpennies and farthings.
Following the words quoted above, section 2 continued to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 6 months' imprisonment for uttering a false coin, knowing it to be false. On release the offender then had to provide sureties to be of good behaviour for another 6 months. For a second offence, the punishment was 2 years' imprisonment followed by another 2 years of good behaviour under surety. A third offence was a felony, punishable with death by hanging.
Section 3 provided that a person who committed an offence under section 2 and then committed the same offence again within 10 days, or was found in possession of more counterfeit money within 10 days was to be deemed "a common utterer of false money" and sentenced to 1 year imprisonment and then provide sureties for his good behaviour for another 2 years. If a person convicted of this offence ever uttered or tendered false coin in payment again, he was guilty of felony without benefit of clergy.
Section 6 made it a crime to "make, coin or counterfeit any brass or copper money, commonly called a halfpenny or a farthing," to be punished with 2 years' imprisonment followed by providing sureties for another 2 years' good behaviour.
Other matters
Section 4 provided that there was to be no corruption of blood for offences under the Act.
Section 5 stated that the same rules of procedure and evidence which applied to already existing crimes of counterfeiting coins were to apply to crimes under this Act, except that a time limit of 6 months applied to starting a prosecution for treason or felony under the Act.
Section 7 stated that anyone who apprehended someone for treason or felony against the Act, or for an offence under section 6, was to be given a reward for each person convicted: 40 pounds for each traitor or felon, and 10 pounds for each person offending against section 6. The reward was to be paid by the sheriff of the county within one month of the conviction. If the sheriff failed to pay then he was to forfeit double the reward money, plus treble the costs of suing him, which would all be paid to the informer.
Section 8 said that anyone who committed an offence against the Act but who then provided information leading to the conviction of two or more other offenders was to be pardoned.
Generally speaking, the rules of evidence and jurisdiction in the 18th century were that what happened in one county could not be proved in a court in a different county. However section 9 permitted a previous conviction under the Act in one county to be proved in a court in another county by a certificate signed by the court clerk.
Section 10 increased the fund for prosecuting counterfeiters from £400 to £600 per annum. (This fund had been set up by the Act of 7 Anne c.24, section 4, in 1708.)
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some jurisdictions but such an offense is not related to forgery unless the tampered legal instrument was actually used in the course of the crime to defraud another person or entity. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations.
The British farthing abbreviated qua., was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1/960 of one pound, 1/48 of one shilling, or 1/4 of one penny; initially minted in copper and then in bronze, which replaced the earlier English farthings. Before Decimal Day in 1971, Britain used the Carolingian monetary system, wherein the largest unit was a pound sterling of 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. Each penny was divided into 4 farthings, thus, a pound sterling contained 960 farthings, and a shilling contained 48 farthings. From 1860 to 1971, the purchasing power of a farthing ranged between 12p and 0.2p in 2017 values.
Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statutory versions of the offence exist in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. The Scottish equivalent is defeating the ends of justice, while the South African counterpart is defeating or obstructing the course of justice. A similar concept, obstruction of justice, exists in United States law.
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the throne; levying war against the sovereign and adhering to the sovereign's enemies, giving them aid or comfort; and attempting to undermine the lawfully established line of succession. Several other crimes have historically been categorised as high treason, including counterfeiting money and being a Catholic priest.
A hybrid offence, dual offence, Crown option offence, dual procedure offence, offence triable either way, or wobbler is one of the special class offences in the common law jurisdictions where the case may be prosecuted either summarily or as indictment. In the United States, an alternative misdemeanor/felony offense lists both county jail and state prison as possible punishment, for example, theft. Similarly, a wobblette is a crime that can be charged either as a misdemeanor or an infraction, for example, in California, violating COVID-19 safety precautions.
Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper authority.
The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has been very significantly amended. It was extended to Ireland in 1495 and to Scotland in 1708. The Act was passed at Westminster in the Hilary term of 1351, in the 25th year of the reign of Edward III and was entitled "A Declaration which Offences shall be adjudged Treason". It was passed to clarify precisely what was treason, as the definition under common law had been expanded rapidly by the courts until its scope was controversially wide. The Act was last used to prosecute William Joyce in 1945 for collaborating with Germany in World War II.
The British farthing was a British coin worth a quarter of an old penny. It ceased to be struck after 1956 and was demonetised from 1 January 1961.
Misprision in English law describes certain kinds of offence. Writers on criminal law usually divide misprision into two kinds: negative and positive.
Uttering is a crime involving a person with the intent to defraud that knowingly sells, publishes or passes a forged or counterfeited document. More specifically, forgery creates a falsified document and uttering is the act of knowingly passing on or using the forged document.
The pound was the official currency of Jamaica between 1840 and 1969. It circulated as a mixture of sterling coinage and locally issued coins and banknotes and was always equal to the pound sterling. The Jamaican pound was also used in the Cayman and Turks and Caicos Islands.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c.37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998. Its key areas were the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, Sex Offender Orders, Parenting Orders, granting local authorities more responsibilities with regards to strategies for reducing crime and disorder, and the introduction of law specific to 'racially aggravated' offences. The Act also abolished rebuttable presumption that a child is doli incapax and formally abolished the death penalty for the last civilian offences carrying it, namely treason and piracy.
The Criminal Law Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made some major changes to English criminal law, as part of wider liberal reforms by the Labour government elected in 1966. Most of it is still in force.
Wasting police time is listed as a criminal offence in many Commonwealth countries.
The Treason Act 1554 was an Act of the Parliament of England. It is not to be confused with two other Acts about treason passed in the same year, 1 & 2 Ph & M c 9 and 11.
The Forgery Act 1861 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to forgery from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act. For the most part these provisions were, according to the draftsman of the Act, incorporated with little or no variation in their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. It was passed with the object of simplifying the law. It is essentially a revised version of an earlier consolidation Act, the Forgery Act 1830, incorporating subsequent statutes.
The Coin Act 1696 was an Act of the Parliament of England which made it high treason to make or possess equipment useful for counterfeiting coins. Its title was "An Act for the better preventing the counterfeiting the current Coin of this Kingdom." It was extended to cover Scotland by the Treason Act 1708.
The Counterfeiting Coin Act 1797 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which made it high treason to counterfeit copper coins. The Counterfeiting Coin Act 1741 had already made it treason to counterfeit some copper coins, namely halfpennies and farthings, but counterfeiting other copper coins was only a misdemeanour. On 19 July 1797 Parliament extended the scope of that Act to cover all coins made of copper. The Acts are now repealed.
The Criminal Procedure Code, are Malaysian laws which enacted relating to criminal procedure.
The Coinage Offences Act 1861 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which codified various coinage offences. It was repealed and replaced by the Coinage Offences Act 1936.
