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1. Forgery
XLVIII of 1939 which was repealed by the 1949 Ordinance) are deemed for the purposes of the latter Ordinance to be currency notes issued under such Ordinance.
Now, this Ordinance, unlike the Treasury Notes Ordinance and the Bank of England Notes Ordinance Above mentioned, which deal with offences thereunder by reference to the provisions of the Criminal Code, makes itself, more rationally and exhaustively, a number of provisions in respect of offences which can be committed in regard to currency notes issued or deemed to be issued under the Ordinance. These provisions were modelled on English legislation.
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Briefly they are as follows:
1. Forgery
Section 10 lays downs
"Whosoever with intent to defraud shall forge or counterfeit any currency not issued or deemed to be issued under the Ordinance or any word, figure, mark, signature or facsimile upon or attached to any such currency note, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any such currency note, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeited or altered shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years and not exceeding ten years".
The first limb of this provision requires "the intent to defraud". We shall have later on occasion to see what interpretation English courts have put upon this expression. In general "to defraud" is to deprive by deceit: it is by deceit to induce a man to act to his injury. It is sufficient to prove generally an intent to defraud without proving intent to defraud a particular person. Much less is it necessary to prove that any person was actually defrauded269 .
The second limb requires "knowledge" of the forgery, counterfeiting or alteration. As Archbold says, this is not capable of direct proof. It is nearly in all cases, therefore, proved by evidence of facts from which the jury may presume it. In R. vs Millard and other judgments it was held in England that upon an indictment for uttering a forged banknote, knowing it to be forged, the prosecution may give evidence of other forged
269 V. Archbold, 33rd Ed., p. 821
