Section I. Statutory Frauds

CORRUPT REWARDS

By section 34 of the Larceny Act, 1916,

Every person who corruptly takes any money or reward, directly or indirectly, under pretence or upon account of helping any person to recover any property which has, under circumstances which amount to felony or misdemeanour, been stolen or obtained in any way whatsoever, or received, shall (unless he has used all due diligence to cause the offender to be brought to trial for the same) be guilty of felony and on conviction thereof liable to [imprisonment] for any term not exceeding seven years.

The rule contained in this section is derived from earlier statutes and is said to have originated as a result of the activities of a celebrated criminal in the eighteenth century, Jonathan Wild, who carried on a notorious trade in the collection of such rewards.

Any person who publicly advertises a reward for the return of any property which has been stolen or lost with an intimation, direct or indirect, that no questions will be asked (or publishes such an advertisement) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

OBTAINING CREDIT BY FRAUD

By virtue of the Debtors Act, 1869, any person who in incurring any debt or liability has obtained credit under false pretences, or by means of any other fraud, is guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to be imprisoned for any time not exceeding one year. As we have seen this provision reaches some cases of dishonesty which cannot be brought within section 32 of the Larceny Act, 1916, for example because the false representation may relate to the future. It has been decided that ‘debt’ means a debt which can be recovered by civil action, and therefore a betting debt, since it is void under the Gaming Act, 1845, is not within this section. The credit must have been obtained for the offender himself and it is not enough that he has obtained it for some other person. The meaning of the word ‘credit’ in this connexion is discussed in Appendix I, post.