State v. Randall

2 Aik. 89
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedJanuary 15, 1827
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2 Aik. 89 (State v. Randall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Randall, 2 Aik. 89 (Vt. 1827).

Opinion

The opinion of the Court was pronounced by

Hutchinson, J.

The respondent has been heard upon a motion for a new trial, founded on the exceptions; and upon a motion in arrest, relying upon supposed defects in the indictment.

The motion for a new trial will first be considered. The charge of the court excepted to, and which is contrary to what was requested by the respondent’s counsel, is, that the existence of the Bank of the United States, and the fact, that the bank and the said branch thereof, have been in operation, are matters of gen eral knowledge and notoriety, not requiring the formality of [95]*95proof-in this trial. Another part of the charge presents one of the questions raised by the motion in arrest, to wit, the jurisdiction of the court.

If the existence of the Bank of the United States were to be proved at all, the legal proof would be a certified copy oí the act of incorporation. In some of the early prosecutions, under our present statute, or a former similar statute, the charters were procured, and were present at the trial; but there was no necessity of using them, that point not being litigated. Ever since that period the production of the charters has been dispensed with; and the utmost proof required by the courts has been, the testimony of witnesses, who could testify, that the bank was in operation, issued such bills as were attempted to be imitated, and were in the regular habit of redeeming them. The long practice of our courts in this respect is conceded in argument; and no intimation was ever heard of, that a respondent was injured by this mode of proof. If there were no such bank ordinarily, such proof as this could not be furnished ; and if it were, it would only be prima facie evidence, and the respondent, knowing the origin of his own bills, could do this away by other proof.

In the present case, the respondent had the bills, purporting to be of the United States’ Bank in his possession, with intent to pass them. So the jury have decided. What gave the bills of this bank and this branch of it, currency here, so that the respondent could pass them in the way of deal; so that people would sell their goods, their cattle and their horses, and receive these in payment ? It was the knowledge generally possessed of the existence of such bank and branch thereof. When the subject of establishing the bank was before Congress, the debates upon it were published in the newspapers, and the re-result immediately known throughout the United States. The laws of the session were published in some, newspaper in each state, and also in a book, and deposited in the town clerk’s office in each town in this state, open to the inspection of all. Every person has seen the bills in circulation, and has thence, presumptive evidence of the existence of the Bank, and is satisfied to take them as current money on every payment he receives. The respondent knew there was such a bank, or he would not have expected to pass the bills. And in fact, the whole court and jurors knew of the existence of the bank, as well as those witnesses, whose testimony, according to the decisions for many years, would have been sufficient upon that point. The case might well be left, as it was, to rest upon that general knowledge which the jurors, in common with the other citizens of the United States, possessed with regard to the existence, of the bank ; and that the same, and this branch thereof, were in operation. It is urged in argument, that there was no proof, that' the bank ever issued bills of a size and description with those described in the indictment. This is not a point presented in the case, nor does it appear to haye been urged at the trial; but [96]*96^5e cot,U consider it of do importance if it had been then urg'-ed. The statute is broad enough to comprehend all bills, that are counterfeit, and which purport to be bills of the United States’ Bank. Suppose spurious bills, containing a promise on the part of the bank to pay, were made and put into circulation, of a size of which none had ever issued-, say, bills of thirteen dollars each; this would come within the statute; they would be counterfeit bills of the bank, in a fair and legal sense of the expression; and would have the same tendency to defraud all persons who should receive them, as if bills of the same size had been issued by the bank.

For these reasons, the motion for a new trial cannot prevail.

The motion in arrest is now to be considered; and the first and second points urged will be disposed of together. The first point is, that the courts of the United States have jurisdiction of the offence charged. The second is, that the State Court has no such jurisdiction; and the reason assigned in argument is, that the courts of the United States have a paramount jurisdiction.

That the courts of the United States have this paramount jurisdiction, is inferred from the constitutional power of congress to legislate upon this subject, and from their having in fact so legislated. The power of congress upon this subject is comprised in the 8th section, article 1st, of the constitution, on the 27th page of our Statute Book, and is in these words “The congress shall have power to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States.” Whatever power upon this subject is not given to congress, by the above section, yet remains in the several states: for this is all that gives any such power, and the 12th article of the amendments, is as follows: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Now, it is not, nor can it be, pretended, that bank notes are a current coin, and within that expression of the constitution. Nor is it easy to conceive how they can be termed the. securities of the United States. The United States have not issued them, nor are they holden to pay them. The United States own some shares in the bank stock, and in this they are like other stock-holders, but not the individual stockholders, but the bank, or whole body of stock-holders, who act by their agents, the President and Directors, issue the bills, and must pay them when returned for payment. Those are the securities of the United States, which are issued by their direction, and for which they receive a consideration, and which they must pay and redeem. Such are various certificates, indents and notes issued by the officers of the UnitedStates, under some law of congress, showing a debt due from the United States ; such were the treasury notes issued in the time of the late war

[97]*97If congress have any right to legislate upon that subject, they derive it by implication merely. It is inferred from their right to establish a bank; but it has been a subject of great doubt whether they have that right. And, if that right be doubtful, their right to give jurisdiction to the United States’ courts of the offence of counterfeiting the bank bills, must be no lest doubtful.

But, if it were a conceded point, that congress have such a right to legislate upon this subject, we cannot admit, that by that merely, the state Legislatures áre deprived of such right. The congress of the United States have never so understood the constitution, and great practical difficulty, would result from such a construction.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2 Aik. 89, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-randall-vt-1827.