THE UNITED STATES, PLAINTIFFS,

v.

THOMAS STAATS, JUNIOR

Mr. Justice NELSON delivered the opinion of the Court.

The prisoner was indicted under the third section of the act of Congress, passed 3d March, 1S23, entitled “ An act for the punishment of frauds committed on .the government of the United States.”

The section provides, that if any person shall falsely make, alter, forge, or counterfeit, &c., any deed, power of attorney, order, certificate, receipt, -or other writing, for the purpose of obtaining or receiving, or of enabling' any other person or persons, either directly or indirectly, to obtain or receive from the United States, or any of their officers or agents, any sum or sums of money; or shall utter or publish as true, or cause to be uttered or published as true, any false, forged, altered or counterfeit deed, 2. An objection was taken after conviction, that the indictment did not allege that the prisoner upon the prosecution feloniously did make an assault, &c.; but it was held that, as the indictment described the offence in the words or terms of the statute, it was sufficiSIx. (Deacon on Cr. Law, Suppt. 1652, 1681, Rex v. Thomas Liddle.)

This statute, after describing the acts constituting the of-fence, concludes, like the one before us, that every such person shall be guilty of felony, and, on conviction, shall suffer death. The decision, therefore, bears directly upon the question in hand; and, as the principle seems to have been given up in the country from whence it was derived, and, at best, is here but the merest technicality, it is difficult to perceive any ground for still giving effect to it. It would be otherwise, if the felonious, intent was descriptive of the offence, and not simply of the punishment.

We shall, therefore, direct that it be certified to the court below, that the indictment is not fatally defective, for the reason the acts charged to have been committed by the defendant are not charged to have been committed feloniously, or with a felonious intent.

2. With respect to the second question certified.

The court are of opinion that the offence charged in the indictment comes within the statute.

The only doubt that can be raised is, whether the writing transmitted or presented to the commissioner in support of the claim for a pension should not, within the meaning of the statute, be an instrument forged, or counterfeited, in the technical sense of the term; and not one genuine as to the execution, but false as’it respects the facts embodied in it.

The instruments referred to in the first part of the section, the false making or forging of which, with the intent stated, is made an offence, probably are forged instruments in a strict technical sense; and there is force, therefore, in the argument, that the subsequent clause, making the transmission or presentation of deeds or other writings to an officer of the government a similar offence, had reference to the same description of instruments. But this is by no means a necessary conclusion upon the words of the statute. Indeed, upon this construction, it is not easy to see the materiality of the clause ; because the uttering and publishing of the forged instruments mentioned in the first clause, as true, is made an offence, the same as the forging ; and it is quite clear, that the acts provided against in the subsequent clause amount to an uttering and publishing. If restrained,-therefore, to forged instruments, the clause would seem to be unnecessary.

The deeds and other writings mentioned are not connected with those in the preceding paragraph, as would have been natural, and almost of course, if intended to describe similar instruments. The language is “ any deed, power of attorney,” &c.; not, the aforesaid deed, which words must be in effect interpolated, upon the construction contended for. The clause, therefore, may well be regarded as providing for a distinct and independent offence, — one essential to the protection of the government against fraudulent claims; and which consists in the transmission or presentation of false or counterfeit papers to any officers of the government in support of an account or claim, with intent to defraud.

The case is within the mischief intended to be guarded against; and, also, within the words; and we think the considerations raged, founded upon the form and structure of the general provision, though plausible, and calculated to excite doubts, not sufficient to take it out of them.

A genuine instrument containing a false statement of facts, used in support of a claim, the party knowing it to be' false, and using it with the intent to defraud, presents a case not distinguishable in principle, or in turpitude, or in its mischievous effects, from one in which every part of the instrument is fabricated; and when the one is as fully within the words of the statute as the other, we may well suppose that it was intended to embrace it.

We shall direct, therefore, that it be certified to the court below, that the acts charged in the said indictment to have been committed by the defendant do constitute an offence within the provisions of the act above referred to.

Order. This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York, and on the points and questions on which the judges of the said Circuit Court were opposed in opinion, and which were certified to this court for its opinion, agreeably to the act of Congress in such case made and provided, and was argued by counsel. On consideration whereof, it is the opinion of this court,—

1st. That the indictment is not fatally defective for the reason the acts charged to have been committed by the defendant are not charged to have been committed feloniously, or with a felonious intent; and,

2d. That the acts charged in the said indictment to have been committed by the defendant do constitute an. offence within the provisions of the first section of the act of Congress, approved March 3d, 1823, entitled “ An act for the punishment of frauds committed on the government of the United States.” Whereupon it is now here ordered and adjudged by - this court, that it be so certified to the said Circuit Court.