§ 214. False Certification by Consular Officers.Old Statute 5442 has been changed by the omission of the words "commercial agent or vice-commercial agent," substituting therefor, "or other person employed in the Consular Service of the United States," in new Section 70, which is in the following words:

"Sec. 70. Whoever, being a consul, or vice-consul, or other person employed in the consular service of the United States, shall knowingly certify falsely to any invoice, or other paper, to which his certificate is by law authorized or required, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than three years."

This is the only difference between the new and the old law.

Query.-An United States Consul or other person in the Consular Service who committed the offense denounced by the statute while he was in some foreign country would be beyond the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, because of venue. The incorporation of the word "knowingly" in the section also requires it in the proof and indictment.

§ 215. Taking Seized Property from Custody of Revenue Officer. There is practically no difference between the wording of old Section 5446 and new Section 71, which reads as follows:

"Sec. 71. Whoever shall dispossess or rescue, or attempt to dispossess or rescue, any property taken or detained by any officer or other person under the authority of any revenue law of the United States, or shall aid or assist therein, shall be fined not more than three hundred dollars and imprisoned not more than one year."

While this statute does not contain the word "knowingly," there is no doubt but that an indictment should allege that the person charged knew that the property rescued or taken from the revenue officer was in fact in possession of such officer as a revenue officer of the United States.

§ 216.

Forging, Etc., Certificate of Citizenship.The Act of June 29, 1906, 34 Statute at Large, 602, known as the Naturalization Law, contained at Section 16 a provision for the prosecution of falsely making, forging, etc., certificates, when such certificate was for the use of the person so

falsely making or for the use of someone else. In other words, to constitute an offense under the statute, the certificate must have been so falsely made, etc., to be used, and such allegation is necessary in the bill, and must be made in the proof. The section, as it passes into the new Code, becomes Section 74, which reads as follows:

"Sec. 74. Whoever shall falsely make, forge, or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, forged, or counterfeited, or shall knowingly aid or assist in falsely making, forging, or counterfeiting any certificate of citizenship, with intent to use the same, or with the intent that the same may be used by some other person, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

§ 217. Engraving, Etc., Plate for Printing or Photographing, Concealing, or Bringing Into the United States, Etc., Certificate of Citizenship.-From the same law, and being Section 17 thereof, comes Section 75 of the new Code, which reads as follows:

"Sec. 75. Whoever shall engrave, or cause or procure to be engraved, or assist in engraving, any plate in the likeness of any plate designed for the printing of a certificate of citizenship; or whoever shall sell any such plate, or shall bring into the United States from any foreign place any such plate, except under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, or other proper officer; or whoever shall have in his control, custody, or possession any metallic plate engraved after the similitude of any plate from which any such certificate has been printed, with intent to use or to suffer such plate to be used in forging or counterfeiting any such certificate or any part thereof; or whoever shall print, photograph, or in any manner cause to be printed, photographed, made, or executed, any print or impression in the likeness of any such certificate, or any part thereof; or whoever shall sell any such certificate, or shall bring the same into the United States from any foreign place, except by direction of some proper officer of the United States; or whoever shall have in his possession a distinctive paper which has been adopted by the proper officer of the United States for the printing of such certificate, with intent unlawfully to use the same, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

§ 218. False Personation, Etc., In Procuring Naturalization.-Section 5424 of the old statutes was construed

in the cases of United States vs. York, 131 Federal, 323, and United States vs. Raisch, 144 Federal, 486, by reason of its peculiar wording, as follows:

"It will be observed that after the word 'or' and before the words 'who tries,' etc., are omitted the words 'every person,' with which the section opens. The same omission occurs in the third auxiliary clause of the section; hence 'who,' as so used, and wherever used in the section, refers to the initial 'every person.' But such words 'every person' are modified by the words 'applying to be admitted a citizen, or appearing as a witness for any such person'; hence, as the section. literally reads, a person uttering a certificate can only be punished in case he was a 'person applying to be admitted a citizen, or appearing as a witness for any such person'." United States vs. York, 131 Fed., 327.

To the same effect is United States vs. Raisch, by Judge De Haven, who limits the application of the old section to the person applying to be admitted a citizen, or appearing as a witness for any such person. To meet such construction, and to remedy what was evidently a mistake, we have Section 76 of the new Code, in the following words:

"Sec. 76. Whoever, when applying to be admitted a citizen, or when appearing as a witness for any such person, shall knowingly personate any person other than himself, or shall falsely appear in the name of a deceased person, or in an assumed or fictitious name; or whoever shall falsely make, forge, or counterfeit any oath, notice, affidavit, certificate, record, signature, or other instrument, paper, or proceeding required or authorized by any law relating to or providing for the naturalization of aliens; or whoever shall utter, sell, dispose of, or shall use as true or genuine, for any unlawful purpose, any false, forged, antedated, or counterfeit oath, notice, certificate, order, record, signature, instrument, paper, or proceeding above specified; or whoever shall sell or dispose of to any person other than the person for whom it was originally issued any certificate of citizenship, or certificate showing any person to be admitted a citizen, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

This section clearly applies generally to every person, whether he be applying to be admitted a citizen, or whether he be appearing as a witness for any such person. The use of the word "whoever" before each of the clauses in the section which denounce various phases of the offense, meet

clearly the limitations found in the old statute, and render the new section general in its application.

§ 219. Using False Certificate of Citizenship, or Denying Citizenship, Etc.-Section 5425 of the old statute was enlarged by the Act of June 29, 1906, 34 Statute at Large, 602, which now passes into the new Code as Section 77, in the following words:

"Sec. 77. Whoever shall use or attempt to use, or shall aid, assist, or participate in the use of any certificate of citizenship, knowing the same to be forged, counterfeit, or antedated, or knowing the same to have been procured by fraud or otherwise unlawfully obtained; or whoever, without lawful excuse, shall knowingly possess any false, forged, antedated, or counterfeit certificate of citizenship purporting to have been issued under any law of the United States relating to naturalization, knowing such certificate to be false, forged, antedated, or counterfeit, with the intent unlawfully to use the same; or whoever shall obtain, accept, or receive any certificate of citizenship, knowing the same to have been procured by fraud or by the use or means of any false name or statement given or made with the intent to procure, or to aid in procuring, the issuance of such certificate, or knowing the same to have been fraudulently altered or antedated; or whoever, without lawful excuse, shall have in his possession any blank certificate of citizenship provided by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization with the intent unlawfully to use the same; or whoever, after having been admitted to be a citizen, shall, on oath or by affidavit, knowingly deny that he has been so admitted, with the intent to evade or avoid any duty or liability imposed or required by law, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

The rule announced in United States vs. Melfi, 118 Federal, 902, which was a prosecution for conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States by causing a violation of Section 5425, is applicable to the drafting of indictments under the new section, and it will, therefore, be observed that one of the essential ingredients of the offense is that the person who should obtain, accept, or receive a certificate of citizenship, who should do so with knowledge on his part that it had been procured by means of false statements made with intent to procure or aid in procuring the issue of such certificate.

Running throughout these naturalization laws, is the use of the word "knowingly," and the pleader must not assume

that such word was used by Congress unintentionally. It is absolutely necessary to show knowledge, both in allegation and in proof.

§ 220. Using False Certificate, Etc., as Evidence of Right to Vote.-Section 78 of the new Code displaces old Section 5426, and is in the following words:

"Sec. 78. Whoever shall in any manner use, for the purpose of registering as a voter, or as evidence of a right to vote, or otherwise unlawfully, any order, certificate of citizenship, or certificate, judgment, or exemplification, showing any person to be admitted to be a citizen, whether heretofore or hereafter issued or made, knowing that such order, certificate, judgment, or exemplification has been unlawfully issued or made; or whoever shall unlawfully use, or attempt to use, any such order or certificate, issued to or in the name of any other person, or in a fictitious name, or the name of a deceased person, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

Bearing in mind the observation that has been so often repeated as to the use of the word "knowledge” or “knowingly” in these naturalization statutes, it is well to call attention to the case of United States vs. Lehman, 39 Federal, 768, where Judge Thayer held that an indictment for a violation of such statute, which describes the fraud without describing the facts constituting the fraud, is bad, though the allegation be made that such acts are unknown to the grand jury. In the matter of Coleman, 15 Blatchf., 406, it was held that knowledge that the certificate was unlawfully issued or made was necessary to constitute an offense under the section. There can be no conviction when it appears that the defendant complied fully with all the conditions imposed on him as prerequisite to his admission and that the unlawfulness, if any, was in the want of form in the record of the Court. So, in United States vs. Burley, 14 Blatchf., U. S., 91, where the defendant was indicted under this section and the proof showed that the defendant had registered as a voter upon the protection of the certificate, which certificate had been issued when the applicant was not in Court, and without any oath taken by him, the certificate being regular upon its face, the mere fact that the defendant knew that the certificate had been issued without his presence in Court, and without any oath being taken by him, was not sufficient to warrant a conviction.