State v. Shields

• Decision Date: 05 October 1900
• Citation: 83 N.W. 807,112 Iowa 27
• Parties: THE STATE OF IOWA, Appellant, v. JACK SHIELDS
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

83 N.W. 807

112 Iowa 27

THE STATE OF IOWA, Appellant, v. JACK SHIELDS

Supreme Court of Iowa, Des Moines

October 5, 1900

Appeal from Pottawattamie District Court.--HON. W. R. GREEN, Judge.

THE defendant was indicted for the crime of uttering a forged check. On the trial the state offered in evidence the check described in the indictment, to which the defendant objected on the grounds "that the instrument offered in evidence appears to be illegal and void, and not the subject of forgery, because the same is not stamped as required by law that same bears a proprietary instead of a documentary stamp." The court sustained the objection, and, the state having rested, the defendant moved for a verdict, and the court sustained the motion "for the reasons that the check in question having been excluded because not properly stamped, there was no evidence of the forgery to go to the jury, and for the further reason the check was invalid, and not the subject of forgery." Judgment acquitting the defendant was rendered, and the state appeals.

Reversed.

The Attorney General and Chas. A. Van Vleck for the State.

L. G Scott for appellee.

GIVEN J. GRANGER, C. J., not sitting.

OPINION

GIVEN, J.

I.

We have the single question whether the court erred in holding that the check was not admissible in evidence for the reason that it was stamped with a two-cent proprietary United States revenue stamp, instead of a two-cent documentary stamp, as required by section 6, and schedule A, chapter 448, 30 United States Statutes. Section 7 of said act provides that if any person or persons shall make, sign, or issue, or cause to be made, signed, or issued, any instrument, document, or paper required to be stamped without the same being duly stamped such person or persons shall be punished, "and such instrument, document, or paper, as aforesaid, shall not be competent evidence in any court." Section 10 provides a penalty for making, signing, issuing, accepting, or paying instruments required to be stamped without the same being duly stamped, "with design to evade the payment of any stamp tax." Section 13 provides for stamping instruments not duly stamped at the time of making, by reason of accident, mistake, inadvertence, or necessity, and without any design to defraud the United States of the stamp, or to delay the payment thereof. Section 14 provides that no instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped, which has been signed or issued without being stamped or with a deficient stamp, nor any copy thereof, "shall be recorded or admitted or used as evidence in any court until a legal stamp, or stamps, denoting the amount of tax, shall have been affixed thereto as prescribed by law." Section 16 is as follows: "That no instrument, paper, or document required by law to be stamped shall be deemed or held invalid and of no effect for want of a particular kind or description of stamp designated for and denoting the tax charged on any such instrument, paper, or document, provided a legal documentary stamp, or stamps, denoting a tax of equal amount, shall have been duly affixed and used thereon." This check purports to create a pecuniary...