123 P. 588 | Idaho | 1912
This is an appeal on the part of the state from an order sustaining a demurrer and quashing an indictment presented by the grand jury of Shoshone county, to obtain a proper construction of the provisions of see. 7128, Eev. Codes.
August Paulsen and two others were charged by the grand jury with making a false report concerning the property of the State Bank of Commerce situated at Wallace, Shoshone county, in violation of the provisions of said sec. 7128. The demurrer in effect was based on the ground that the indictment failed to charge either' that the false report alleged to have been made was intended to give, or that it had a tendency to give, a greater or less apparent value to the shares, bonds or property of said bank than they in fact possessed. Said section of the statute is as follows:
“Any person who knowingly makes or publishes in any way whatever, or permits to be so made or published, any book, prospectus, notice, report, statement, exhibit or other publication of, or concerning the affairs, financial condition or property of, any corporation, joint stock association, co-partnership or individual, which said book, prospectus, notice, report, statement, exhibit or other publication, shall contain*690 any statement which is false or wilfully exaggerated or which is intended to give, or which shall have a tendency to give, a less or greater apparent value to the shares, bonds or property of said corporation, joint stock association, copartnership or individual, or any part of said shares, bonds or property, than said shares, bonds or property or any part thereof, shall really and in fact possess, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction, thereof shall be imprisoned for not more than ten years or fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or shall suffer both said fine and imprisonment.”
Said section was enacted at the ninth session in 1907 (Sess. Laws 1907, p. 25), and was embodied in the Revised Codes o.f 1909 as section 7128. Under the provisions of said section, if it were necessary to charge in the indictment that said false report was intended to give, or had a tendency to give, a less or greater apparent value to the shares or bonds or property of said bank than they really possessed, the court did not err in sustaining said demurrer. But if under the provisions of said section it was only necessary to charge that said defendants did knowingly make said false report, then the court erred in sustaining said demurrer. The first part of said section provides against a person knowingly making or publishing a false report and closes with the following words: “shall contain any statement which is false or wilfully exaggerated,” and then follows this language: “or which is intended to- give or shall have a tendency to give a less or greater apparent value to the shares, bonds or property of said corporation,” etc. The trial court held under the provisions of said section that it was necessary to charge the intent with which said false report was made or the tendency or the effect of the report in boosting or depressing the stock, etc., and that as it did not do so, it did not charge a public offense. The trial court evidently came to the conclusion that the legislature intended to make one of the essentials of said crime the intent or tendency to misléad as to the apparent value of the corporate shares, bonds or property of such corporation. Counsel for respondent contend
We are unable to concur with counsel in this contention, as it is clear to us that the legislative intent was to make it a felony for any person knowingly to make or publish a false report of the matters and things specified in said statute, regardless of the intent or tendency to boost or depress the value of the stock or property belonging to such corporation.
Under contention of counsel, said statute does not make it a crime for a person knowingly to make or publish a false report of the condition of a banking or other corporation, whereby it is intended to secure more business and larger deposits, but it is made a crime only when such false publication, report, etc., is intended to give or has a tendency to give a less or greater apparent value to the shares, bonds, or other property of such corporation. Under that contention, officials may knowingly make all such false and exaggerated reports as they desire to make, and may thereby swindle and deceive those who do business and deposit money with them, and not be criminally liable. If we give the provisions of that section the plain and ordinary construction of the language there used, it makes it a felony for any person knowingly to make or publish in any way whatever a false report, etc., whether or not such report, etc., is intended to give or has a tendency to give a less or greater apparent value to the shares or property of such corporation, and also a crime knowingly to make such false report for any purpose whatever. So far as banking corporations are concerned, the making of false reports may have more of a tendency to secure large deposits of money than to increase or decrease the value of the capital stock or other property of the bank, for many people, no doubt, choose the bank with which to do
Counsel also contends that if the latter portion of said section 7128 is not necessary to the definition of a crime under the first part of the section, it follows that the first
Our attention has not been called to a law in any state like our sec. 7128, except in the state of Wyoming. In Sess. Laws of Wyo., 1909, p. 227, we find an act consisting of two sections, the first of which is the same as our sec. 7128. That act was approved March 2, 1909, 'and was evidently taken from an act of the legislature of Idaho approved February 19, 1907. However, our attention has not been called to any decision of the supreme court of Wyoming construing said section.
We therefore conclude that the indictment was sufficient and that it was not necessary to charge that such false report was intended to give or had a tendency to give a less or greater value to the shares, bonds or property of said bank than they really and in fact possessed. The trial court therefore erred in sustaining said demurrer to the indictment. The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.