delivered, the opinion of the cpurt.
This is an appeal from an order denying a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner was indicted under *225 § 169 of the Criminal Code, which declаres that “whoever, without lawful authority, shall have in his possession” any die in the likeness or similitude of a diе designated for making genuine coin of the United States shall be punished, etc. The indictment charged'that he “wilfully, knowingly” and without lawful authority had in his possession certain dies of that description. He entered a plea'of guilty and was sentenced to pay a fine and suffer a year’s imprisonment. He made an explanatory statement to the effect that the dies, were in some junk he had рurchased and that he did not know at the time of their presence nor of their coming into his possession; but, so far as appears, the statement was made without his being under oath and with the purpose only of inviting a lenient sentence.
Originally the statute contained the qualifying words “with intent to fraudulеntly or unlawfully use the same,” c. 127, § 1, 26 Stat. 742, but they were eliminated when it was incorporated into the Criminal Code, c. 321, § 169, 35 Stat. 1088, 11201-
The petitioner.makes two contentions. One is that the statute is repugnant to the duе process of- law clause of the Fifth Amendment in that it makes criminal a having in possession which is neither willing nor. conscious. The District Court in denying the petition held otherwise, saying that the statute rightly construеd means “a willing and conscious possession;” and the court added: “Such is the possession intended by the indictment, and such is the possession, the petitioner having pleaded guilty to the indictment, that he must be held to have had. Otherwise he was not guilty. He might have pleaded not guilty, and upon trial shown that hе did not know the dies weré in his possession.”
We think the court was right. The statute is not intended to include and makе criminal a possession which ■is not conscious and willing.. While its words are general,,
*226
they are to be taken in a reasonable sense and not in one which works manifest injustice or infringes constitutionаl safeguards. In so holding we but give effect to a cardinal rule of construction recognized in rеpeated'decisions of this and other courts. A citation of three will illustrate our view. In
Margate Pier Co.
v.
Hannam,
3 B. & Ald. 266, 270, Abbott, C. J., quoting from Lord Coke, said: “Acts of parliament . . . are to be so construed, as no man that is innocent, оr free from injury or wrong, be by a literal construction punished or endamaged.” In
United States
v.
Kirby,
The other contention is that the clause in the Cоnstitution empowering Congress “to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of
*227
the United States,” Art. I, § 8, cl. 6, is a limitation as well as a grant of power, that the act whiсh the statute denounces is not counterfeiting, and therefore that Congress cannot provide for its punishment. The contention must be rejected. It rests on a misconception not only of that clause but also of the clause investing Congress with power “to coin money” and “regulate thе value thereof,” Art. I, § 8, cl. 5. Both have been considered by this court, and the purport of the decisions is (1) that .Congress not only may coin money.in the literal sense but also may adopt appropriate measures, including the imposition of criminal penalties, to maintain the coin in its purity and to safeguard the public against spurious, simulated and debased coin; and (2) that the power of Congress in that regard is in no wise limited by the clause relating to the punishment of counterfeiting.
United States
v.
Marigold,
Final order affirmed.