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General Provisions
“La falsità nelle pubbliche scritture trascina seco l'onta alla fede dovuta alla im- pronta della pubblica autorità che ne garantisce, o a di cui nome ne vien garantita l'autenticità, quale onta non si verifica punto nella falsità delle scritture private”310 .
The “injury” or “gain” which the private writing must tend to produce or procure are not specified by the law: they are indicated in the most general and comprehensive way, and no distinction is, therefore, permissible to induce exceptions or restrict the meaning. But the injury or gain must be capable of deriving from the legal probative force of the writing: the writing must by itself be capable of causing injury or procuring gain.
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A private writing is ordinarily evidence of a right or an obligation: when it may serve for the purposes of such evidence, it is capable of causing injury or procuring gain. Conversely, when a writing does not tend to prove ’quod actum est' or at least to open a way for that proof in accordance with the rules of civil law, it cannot be considered as a "private writing" within the meaning of that law: and its falsification cannot fall within the purview of the section we are now discussing, which deals precisely with the forgery of private writings as contemplated by the civil law.
General Provisions 1.
“Any other kind of forgery not provided for in the preceding sections of this Title (Title V), when committed by any public officer or servant acting with abuse of his office or employment, shall be punishable with hard labour for a term from seven months to one year, and when committed by any private person, shall be punishable with hard labour for a term not exceeding six months” (sect. 196).
These other forgeries are known in the practice of our Courts as "innominati". According to Arabia, following Nicolini, the law here in speaking of “other kinds of forgery” is referring to the object of the forgery and not to the manner of executing the offence. In other words, the means of the forgery must, according to these authorities - be the same as those contemplated in respect of the other forgeries: only the instrument must be different, i.e., other than any of those expressly dealt with in the preceding sections of the Title.
310 Ibid., p. 248
