What Is Forgery?
It is usually easier to understand a concept such as forgery by going back to the basics of the word itself. The idea may have originally been tied to the work of forging metal into an object such as a weapon or a coin. The word may have gotten its transformation into the idea of signing with a false signature or making a false document because both changing metal and making a document false involve a transformation.
In any case, forgery as we understand it today is a criminal act punishable by fines and jail time. The dictionary defines this act as altering a document or creating a document for the purpose of deceiving someone. The goal is most often financial gain. Forgery as an illegal act can also involve signing another person’s name to a document or a bank check with the goal of getting money or other benefits. For court purposes, the amount of money involved can determine whether the act of forgery is a misdemeanor or a felony.
Some situations have been determined to involve forgery if a single letter or word changed in a document makes that document false. Courts have heard cases in which someone creates or alters a will so that benefits will accrue to the surviving person. That person often gets a true signature from the ill or elderly person so that the document appears to be legal and true.
Legal analysis has also included the changing of business-expense receipts under the heading of forgery. If someone adds items to a receipt that would otherwise be legal and accurate, forgery may have been committed. This act is often prosecuted as business fraud.
In all of these cases, the action involves changing or creating a written, printed or typed document. Some courts have found that the simple act of leaving information out of a document can be forgery, even if no false signature or words are inserted on the document. One of the curious details about forgery as an illegal act is that forgery is considered to be committed even if the changed or created document is never publicly displayed. If the false document is discovered at a later date and there has been no actual financial benefit, the act of forgery may still have been committed. In these cases, the penalties are lighter (if there are penalties at all).
Laws going back many years indicated that forgery was committed if there was intent even if no one was financially injured. Juries have been instructed to consider forgery has been committed if the person accused had the intention of committing fraud by altering or creating a document.
In the same sense that a document may be altered or created, individuals may be prosecuted for forgery if they alter or create coins with the intention of financial gain. This legal situation takes the original meaning of forgery back to the roots of the word “forge.” Whether the illegal activity involves paper or metal, there is the possibility of prosecution for forgery.
Category: Law & Legal Issues