United States v. Sacks, 48
| Citation | 66 L.Ed. 118,257 U.S. 37,42 S.Ct. 38 |
| Decision Date | 07 November 1921 |
| Docket Number | No. 48,48 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. SACKS |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
Mr. Wm. C. Herron, of Washington, D. C., for the United States.
Mr. Joseph A. Seidman, of New York City, for defendant in error.
This case presents for consideration an indictment in three counts for the violation, respectively, of sections 148 and 151 of the Criminal Code of the United States (Comp. St. §§ 10318, 10321), as dependent upon the construction of an act of Congress to which we shall refer.
The first two counts charge that Sacks did 'with intent to defraud, altered an obligation of the United States, to wit, a war savings certificate of the United States of the series of 1918, in that he did tear from the face of said war savings certificate two war savings certificate stamps of the United States of the series of 1918, thereto attached.'
The third count charges Sacks with having in his possession with intent to defraud the United States, and with intent to pass and sell the same, an altered obligation of the United States, to wit, a portion of a war savings certificate of the United States of the series of 1918, with three war savings certificate stamps thereto attached, in that the portion which he had and kept in his possession had been torn from a whole war savings certificate.
The indictment is illustrated by having examples of the certificates attached. They certify, subject to the terms and conditions expressed thereon, that the owner will be entitled to receive January 1, 1923, in respect to each stamp of the series of 1918 then affixed thereto, the amount indicated thereon as then payable, or at his option, will be entitled to receive at an earlier date a lesser amount indicated by a table thereon.
Among the terms and conditions are the following:
The names of the owners are indorsed on the certificates, and their addresses.
The indictment was quashed on Sack's motion on the ground, recited in the judgment, that the indictment was not——
'authorized under any construction of the act of Congress upon which it is alleged to be predicated, to wit, the Act of Congress of September 24, 1917, and section 6, and as amended by the Act of Congress of September 24, 1918, section 2 thereof (Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 6829l) and sections 148 and 151 of the Criminal Code of the United States, or under the construction of any other statute of the United States now in force.'
The judgment and the action of the court are assigned as error. The construction of the sections of the Criminal Code and the act of Congress referred to is necessarily involved: Section 148 makes an offender 'whoever, with intent to defraud, shall falsely make, forge, counterfeit, or alter any obligation or other security of the United States; * * *' section 151 makes an offender 'whoever, with intent to defraud, shall pass, utter, publish, or sell' or attempt to do either act, 'or shall keep in possession or concealed with like intent any falsely made, * * * counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States. * * *'
Section 147 of the Criminal Code (Comp. St. § 10317) defines obligations and securities of the United States to be evidences of indebtedness, and adds to a specific enumeration the comprehensive words 'stamps and other representatives of value, of whatever denomination, which have been or may be issued under any act of Congress.'
Section 154 (section 10324) makes dealing in the false and counterfeited obligations of either section an offense.
The Act of Congress of September 24, 1917 (40 Stat. 291), authorizes the Secretary of the...
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