Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

FALSE LATIN

FALSEHOOD

475

bat or duellum. This was called the "appeal of false judgment." Montesq. Esprit des Lois, liv. 28, c. 27. FALSE LATIN". When law proceedings were written in Latin, if a word were sig nificant though not good Latin, yet an in dictment, declaration, or fine should not be made void by it; but if the word were not Latin, nor allowed by the law, and it were In a material point, it made the whole vicious. (5 Coke, 121; 2 Kels. 830.) Wharton. FALSE LIGHTS AND SIGNALS. Lights and signals falsely and maliciously displayed for the purpose of bringing a ves sel into danger. FALSE NEWS. Spreading false news, whereby discord may grow between the queen of England and her people, or the great men of the realm, or which may pro duce other mischiefs, still seems to be a mis demeanor, under St. 3 Edw. I. c 34. Steph. Or. Dig. § 95. FALSE OATH. See PERJURY. FALSE PERSONATION. The crimi nal offense of falsely representing some oth er person and acting in the character thus unlawfully assumed, in order to deceive oth ers, and thereby gain some profit or ad vantage, or enjoy some right or privilege be longing to the one so personated, or subject him to some expense, charge, or liability. See 4 Steph. Comm. 181, 290. FALSE PLEA. See SHAM PLEA. FALSE PRETENSES. In criminal law. False representations and statements, made with a fraudulent design to obtain money, goods, wares, or merchandise, with intent to «heat. 2 Bouv. Inst. no. 2308. A representation of some fact or circum stance, calculated to mislead, which is not true. 19 Pick. 184. False statements or representations made with intent to defraud, for the purpose of ob taining money or property. A pretense is the holding out or offering to others something false and feigned. This may be done either by words or actions, which amount to false representations. In fact, false representa tions are inseparable from the idea of a pretense. Without a representation which is false there can toe no pretense. 43 Iowa, 13a. FALSE REPRESENTATION. See FRAUD; DECEIT. FALSE RETURN. A return to a writ, in which the officer charged with it falsely reports that he sewed it, when he did not, or

makes some other false or incorrect state ment, whereby injury results to a person in terested. F A L S E SWEARING. The misde meanor committed in English law by a per son who swears falsely before any person au thorized to administer an oath upon a matter of public concern, under such circumstances that thefalse swearing would have amounted to perjury if committed in a judicial proceed ing; as where a person makes a false affidavit under the bills of sale acts. Steph. Cr. Dig. p. 84. FALSE TOKEN. In criminal law. A false document or sign of the existence of a fact, used with intent to defraud, for the pur pose of obtaining money or property. FALSE VERDICT. An'untrue verdict. Formerly, if a jury gave a false verdict, the party injured by it might sue out and prose cute a writ of attaint against them, either at common law or on the statute 11 Hen. VII. c. 24, at his election, for the purpose of re versing the judgment and punishing the jury for their verdict; but not where the jury erred meiely in point of law, if they found according to the judge's direction. The practice of setting aside verdicts and grant ing new trials, however, so superseded the use of attaints that there is no instance of one to be found in the books of reports later than in the time of Elizabeth,'and it was al together abolished by 6 Geo. IV. c. 50, § 60. Wharton. FALSE WEIGHTS. False weights and measures are such as do not comply with the standard prescribed by the state or govern ment, or with the custom prevailing in the place and business in which they are used. 7 Amer. & Eng. Enc. Law, 796. FALSEDAD. In Spanish law. Falsity; an alteration of the truth. Las Partidas, pt. 3, tit. 26, 1. 1. Deception; fraud. Id. pt. 3, tit. 32,1. 21. FALSEHOOD. A statement or asser tion known to be untrue, and intended to de ceive. A willful act or declaration contrary to the truth. 51 N. H. 207. In Sootch law. A fraudulent imitation or suppression of truth, to the prejudice of another. Bell. "Something used and published falsely." An old Scottish nomen juris. "Falsehood is undoubtedly a nom inate crime, so much so that Sir George Mac kenzie and our older lawyers used no other term for the falsification of writs, and the

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