PART VI. 
FORGERY AND RELATED OFFENSES



 



§708-850  Definitions of terms in this part. 
In this part, unless a different meaning plainly is required:



(1)  "Written instrument" means:



(a)  Any paper, document, or other instrument
containing written or printed matter or its equivalent; or



(b)  Any token, coin, stamp, seal, badge,
trademark, or other evidence or symbol of value, right, privilege, or
identification;



(2)  "Complete written instrument" means a
written instrument which purports to be genuine and fully drawn with respect to
every essential feature thereof;



(3)  "Incomplete written instrument" means a
written instrument which contains some matter by way of content or
authentication but which requires additional matter in order to render it a
complete written instrument;



(4)  "Falsely make," in relation to a
written instrument, means to make or draw a complete written instrument, or an
incomplete written instrument, which purports to be an authentic creation of
its ostensible maker or issuing commercial establishment, but which is not
either because the ostensible maker, or issuing commercial establishment is
fictitious or because, if real, the same did not authorize the making or
drawing thereof;



(5)  "Falsely complete," in relation to a
written instrument, means to transform, by adding, inserting, or changing
matter, an incomplete written instrument into a complete one, without the
authority of the ostensible maker, drawer, or issuing commercial establishment,
so that the complete written instrument falsely appears or purports to be in
all respects an authentic creation of its ostensible maker[,] authorized by the
maker, or issuing commercial establishment;



(6)  "Falsely alter," in relation to a
written instrument, means to change, without the authority of the ostensible
maker, drawer, or issuing commercial establishment, a written instrument,
whether complete or incomplete, by means of erasure, obliteration, deletion,
insertion of new matter, transposition of matter, or in any other manner, so
that the instrument so altered falsely appears or purports to be in all
respects an authentic creation of its ostensible maker, authorized by the
maker, or issuing commercial establishment;



(7)  "Forged instrument" means a written
instrument which has been falsely made, completed, endorsed, or altered;



(8)  "Utter," in relation to a forged
instrument, means to offer, whether accepted or not, a forged instrument with
representation by acts or words, oral or in writing, that the instrument is
genuine;



(9)  "Falsely endorse," in relation to a
written instrument, means to endorse, without the authority of the ostensible
maker, drawer, or issuing commercial establishment, any part of a written
instrument, whether complete or incomplete, so that the written instrument so endorsed
falsely appears or purports to be authorized by the ostensible maker, drawer,
or issuing commercial establishment; and



(10)  "Fraudulently encode magnetic ink character
recognition numbers," in relation to a written instrument, means to
change, alter, erase, add, create, tamper with, or manipulate the magnetic ink
character recognition numbers, or symbols representing to be magnetic ink
character recognition numbers, from the issuing commercial establishment. [L
1972, c 9, pt of §1; am L 1988, c 155, §1; am L 1993, c 13, §1; gen ch 1993; am
L 1997, c 243, §1]



 



COMMENTARY ON §708-850



 



  Section 708-850 provides definitions of terms used repeatedly
throughout this Part; it does not specify any offense.  A discussion of the
definitions, when called for, is found in the commentary on the sections
employing the terms defined.



 



SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY ON §708-850



 



  Act 155, Session Laws 1988, added the term "falsely
endorses" to this section.  Previously, forging a written instrument did
not include false endorsements as a method of forging a written instrument;
therefore, false endorsement was prosecuted as a theft.  House Standing
Committee Report No. 467-88.



  Act 13, Session Laws 1993, amended the definition of
"forged instrument" to specify that a false endorsement is a method
of forging a written instrument.  The legislature found that this amendment
added clarity and consistency to definitions regarding forgery and related
offenses in the penal code, and was also consistent with the legislative intent
as established in Act 155, Session Laws 1988, which included false endorsement
as a method of committing the offense of forgery to strengthen the existing
forgery laws at that time.  House Standing Committee Report No. 84, Senate
Standing Committee Report No. 1064.



  Act 243, Session Laws 1997, made it an offense of forgery if
a person fraudulently encoded the magnetic ink character recognition numbers on
a written instrument. The Act amended this section by adding a definition for
"fraudulently encode magnetic ink character recognition numbers". 
The Act also amended this section by adding "issuing commercial
establishment" to the class of issuers protected from forgery, false
making, false completion, false altering, and false endorsement.



  The legislature found that increasingly advanced technology
has changed the way in which commercial paper can be handled between parties. 
One of the technological changes involved the use of magnetic character
recognition numbers that enable scanners to quickly obtain information from the
document.  Changing the magnetic codes effectively tells the scanner different
information than that intended, making it a forgery in fact, if not in name. 
However, that type of document alteration was not currently prohibited by law. 
The legislature found that the Act would protect parties in that type of
situation.  Senate Standing Committee Report No. 1551, House Standing Committee
Report No. 987.



 



Case Notes



 



  "Falsely complete":  in a prosecution for forgery,
the element of completing a check without authority of the ostensible drawer
may be proven by circumstantial evidence.  79 H. 175 (App.), 900 P.2d 172.