People v. Wood
| Decision Date | 29 May 1958 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 6130 |
| Citation | 325 P.2d 1014,161 Cal.App.2d 24 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James B. WOOD, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Thomas B. Sawyer, San Pedro, for appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., Norman H. Sokolow, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Appellant was convicted of eight felonious violations of section 115 of the Penal Code in knowingly procuring and offering to be filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles certain false documents described as 'Dealer's Reports of Sale' and 'Certificates of Non-Operation'. He appeals from the order denying his motion for a new trial and from the judgment and sentence.
The ultimate question of law presented by this appeal is simply this: Was appellant properly convicted of violations of section 115 of the Penal Code making it a felony to file in any public office within this state a false or forged instrument, which instrument, if genuine, might be filed under any law of this state; or was appellant chargeable only with violations of Vehicle Code section 131(d) declaring it a misdemeanor to make a false statement in any document required to be filed with the Motor Vehicle Department under the provisions of the Vehicle Code?
Appellant is the president of Johnny's Used Cars, Inc., a used car dealer licensed by the Department of Motor Vehicles. In connection with the sale of an automobile, a dealer must prepare a 'Dealer's Report of Sale' on a quadruplicate form provided by the Motor Vehicle Department. Of the four parts, one is retained by the dealer in the bound form book, one is attached to the windshield of the automobile sold, and the other two must be forwarded to the Department of Motor Vehicles not later than the end of the next business day following the sale. See section 177(b), Vehicle Code. For each failure to submit the form within the required time, the Department of Motor Vehicles assesses a penalty of $3. In connection with the application for transfer of any interest in an automobile of which the registration has expired, the dealer must prepare and forward to the Department of Motor Vehicles a 'Certificate of Non-Operation.' See section 164.5, Vehicle Code.
These two forms are distinct from and in addition to the Certificate of Ownership or so-called pink slip, or the conditional sale contract which transfers title to the purchaser. In the instant case the eight counts involved four separate transactions with different buyers, but, except for the names and the dates, the transactions are essentially similar and the relevant issues on this appeal can be discussed in terms of Counts I and II. Count I charges that on or about April 14, 1955, the appellant filed a false and forged instrument, to wit, 'a State of California, Department of Motor Vehicle Dealer's Report of Sale.' Count II alleges that at the same time he did knowingly 'procure and offer to be filed * * * a false and forged * * * Certificate of Non-Operation.' Both of these documents relate to the sale of a motor vehicle by Johnny's Used Cars, Inc., to a Charles Davis. The falsity in the dealer's report of sale is that the report indicates that the sale took place on March 29, 1955, whereas the evidence indicates the sale took place on February 9, 1955. The certificate of non-operation states that the vehicle had not been operated from January, 1955 to March, 1955 and the evidence indicates that the vehicle was operated by the purchaser from and after the sale on February 9, 1955.
The other counts in the information relate to three other sales to three separate purchasers and in each case the date of sale reported in the 'Dealer's Report of Sale' and the 'Certificate of Non-Operation' was substantially later than the actual date of sale.
The prosecution offered as evidence establishing the dates of sale the appellant's copy of the dealer's record of sale (which showed the correct dates), and the testimony of two witnesses, one of whom, Mrs. Noble, testified that she prepared the 'Certificate of Non-Operation' at the direction of appellant and forwarded the documents in question to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Appellant urged only two substantial contentions as grounds for reversal: (1) that the offenses charged are punishable only as misdemeanors under section 131(d) of the Vehicle Code, which was enacted more recently than section 115 of the Penal Code; and (2) that the two documents involved are not 'instruments' within the meaning of section 115 of the Penal Code.
Section 115 of the Penal Code, under which appellant was convicted, was enacted in 1872 and provides as follows: 'Every person who knowingly procures or offers any false or forged instrument to be filed, registered, or recorded in any public office within this State, which instrument, if genuine, might be filed, or registered, or recorded under any law of this State or of the United States, is guilty of felony.' (Emphasis added.)
Section 131(d) of the Vehicle Code was first enacted in 1937 (Stats.1937, ch. 148, p. 413). It reads as follows: 'Any person who knowingly makes a false statement or conceals a material fact in any document required to be filed with the department as herein provided shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.' (Emphasis added.)
We have concluded that appellant's first contention must be sustained. We think it entirely clear that the Legislature intended the more recently enacted section 131(d) of the Vehicle Code to provide the penalty for offenses of the type here involved.
It seems too clear to be reasonably questioned that the acts of the appellant, for which he was prosecuted in this case, amounted simply to the filing with the Motor Vehicle Department of documents containing false statements as to the dates of the sales of certain automobiles, and as to the periods of time said automobiles had been out of operation. Clearly, no forgery was involved. Unquestionably, the acts charged amounted to violations of section 131(d) of the Vehicle Code.
Our conclusion sustaining appellant's first contention renders it unnecessary for us to decide the question posed by appellant's second contention, that is to say, whether or not the documents in question are 'instruments' within the meaning of section 115 of the Penal Code. We therefore refrain from deciding that question.
However, in seeking to discover the legislative intent as to the coverage of section 131(d) of the Vehicle Code we may properly consider the legal background or the legal setting in which the statute was enacted. Relevant prior decisions of the appellate courts of California constitute a part of that background because the Legislature presumably acted with full knowledge of their purport. In re Estate of Simpson, 43 Cal.2d 594, 600, 275 P.2d 467, 47 A.L.R.2d 991; Buckley v. Chadwick, 45 Cal.2d 183, 200, 288 P.2d 12, 289 P.2d 242; Freeman v. Jergins, 125 Cal.App.2d 536, 552-553, 271 P.2d 210.
California decisions antedating the enactment of section 131(d) of the Vehicle Code had so defined the word 'instrument', as used in section 115 of the Penal Code, as to make it at least questionable whether the term would be held applicable to the various documents required to be filed with the Motor Vehicle Department by the provisions of the Vehicle Code.
Prominent among these earlier decisions defining the term 'instrument' is People v. Fraser, 1913, 23 Cal.App. 82, 84-85, 137 P. 276, 277. The defendant in that case was a physician who filed for record a false birth certificate which indicated that the couple intending to adopt the child were its natural parents. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the information which charged a violation of section 115 of the Penal Code. In affirming, the appellate court held that a birth certificate was not an instrument within the meaning of section 115. The decision holds that the word 'instrument' as used in the various codes is limited in its application to a class of writings which it defines as follows:
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