Forgery and Associated Offences Flashcards
(19 cards)
Section 256 (1) Forgery
Makes a false document with the intention of using it to obtain any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit or valuable consideration
10 years
Section 256 (2) Forgery
Makes a false document, knowing it to be false, with the intent that in any way be used or acted upon, whether in New Zealand or elsewhere, as genuine.
3 years
Section 256 (3) Forgery - When is Forgery complete??
Forgery is complete as soon as the document is made with the intent described in subsection (1) or with the knowledge and intent described in subsection (2).
Explain the requirement for ‘use’ of a document in relation to Forgery:
There is no requirement that the defendant use the document, as long as the intention to do so is present. The defendant must know that the document is false.
Define false document (a)
A document of which the whole or any part purports to be made by any person who did not make it, or by a fictitious person
Define false document (b)
A document of which the whole or any material part purports to be made by or on behalf of any person who did not authorise it’s making, or on behalf of a fictitious person
Define false document (c)
A document of which the whole or any material part has been altered, whether by addition, insertion, deletion and that purports to have been altered by or on behalf of a person who did not alter it
Define false document (d)
A document that is, in whole or in part, a reproduction of any other document, and that purports to have been made by or on behalf of a person who did not make it or authorise its making
Define false document (e)
A document that is made in the name of a person, either by that person or by that person’s authority, with the intention that it should pass as being made by some other person who did not authorise
Define false document in short:
The document itself must lie about itself, or intend to convey a lie in cases where it has been written by someone intending to pass it off as having been written by someone else.
These various forms of lies make a document false.
Example of a false document:
A print of a forged Goldie painting is not a forgery - only the original forgery claiming to be an unforged original constitutes a forgery.
Material alterations which can make a document a ‘false document’:
- Additions
- Insertions
- Deletions
- Obliterations
- Erasures
- Removal of material
When is an alteration a ‘material alteration’?
If it increases the value or negotiability of a document or instrument
Explain a photocopy of a false document:
A photocopy of a false document claims merely to be a copy and therefore does not ‘tell a lie about itself’.
When is forgery complete? Do you need to intend that a person will be affected?
Forgery is complete as soon as the document is made with knowledge and intent.
You do not need to intend that a particular person will be affected.
What must the prosecution prove for forgery?
AT the time of the alleged act, the defendant knowing that the document was false had intended either:
- to use the false document to obtain or
- that the false document be used or acted on as genuine
Is it enough for Forgery that the maker just knows a document is fake?
No, it must be proved that the defendant must have intended that the document be used to mislead
For Forgery is it necessary to prove the document is completed?
The forgery may be complete and the offence committed even though the document is not completed e.g. an intended signature has not been affixed
If the document is incomplete and erroneous it may be hard to prove an intention that the document pass as genuine.
Four examples of Forgery:
- Writing an exam in the name of someone else who was meant to sit it.
- Pre-dating a deed to give it priority over another
- Forging letters of recommendation in a CV that are necessary to obtain a position
- Falsely completing a statement of service on a witness summons
