People v. Sidwell

The defendants, Sidwell and Davis, were charged with violation of the Corporate Securities Act (Stats. 1917, p. 673, as amended, Deering’s Gen. Laws, Act 3814) in that, on June 1, 1940, they knowingly sold a “certificate of interest” in an oil and gas lease, “to wit, five per cent of all oil, gas and other hydro-carbon substances from a [described] well,” without having obtained a permit from the Corporation Commissioner. Defendants each pleaded not guilty, waived a jury, and after trial were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for the term of one year. They appeal from…