Commonwealth v. Boynton
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The defendant was indicted for uttering, and publishing as true, a certain false, forged, and counterfeit, bill or note, counterfeited to the likeness and similitude of a bill or note issued by order and direction of the President, Directors, and Company, of the New Hampshire Bank, (which bank then was and yet is established by, and under the authority of, the state of New-Hampshire,) signed by the president, and countersigned by the cashier thereof; which bill or note is in…
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The defendant was indicted for uttering, and publishing as true, a certain false, forged, and counterfeit, bill or note, counterfeited to the likeness and similitude of a bill or note issued by order and direction of the President, Directors, and Company, of the New Hampshire Bank, (which bank then was and yet is established by, and under the authority of, the state of New-Hampshire,) signed by the president, and countersigned by the cashier thereof; which bill or note is in substance and of the purport and effect following, viz.: “Ten dollars, No. 129. The President, Directors, and Company,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Parsons, C. J.
In considering penal • statutes not remedial, we are bound to construe them strictly. The legislature has not expressly extended to bank notes the peculiar safeguard resulting from the penalties of this statute, unless the forged * note purport to be countersigned by a cashier of the [ * 80 ] bank whose note is counterfeited. As bank notes are generally, and I believe always, countersigned by a cashier, it might be presumed that no man of common prudence could be imposed upon by a fictitious bank note not purporting to be countersigned *80by…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Andrews v. HerriotNew York Supreme Court · 1825
- State v. PhelpsSupreme Court of Vermont · 1839
- Commonwealth v. HallCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1876
- United States v. WatkinsU.S. Circuit Court for the District of District of Columbia · 1829