First Previous (PART VI. Bankers' Licences and the Duties of Licensed Bankers.) Next (PART VIII. Coinage.)

22 1942

CENTRAL BANK ACT, 1942

PART VII.

Counterfeit and Unauthorised Currency.

Definition of “bank note” in this Part of this Act.

52. —In this Part of this Act the expression “bank note” has the same meaning as it has in the Forgery Act, 1913, as amended or extended by the Currency Act and by this Part of this Act.

Extension of the Forgery Act, 1913.

53. —(1) Currency notes issued by or on behalf of the Government of any country outside the State shall be deemed to be bank notes within the meaning of the Forgery Act, 1913.

(2) In the foregoing sub-section of this section the expression “currency note” includes any notes (by whatever name they are called) which are legal tender in the country in which they are issued.

Disposal of bank notes, etc. seized under the Forgery Act, 1913.

54. —Where any forged bank note, or any machinery, implement, utensil, or material used or intended to be used for the forgery of a bank note is lawfully seized under a warrant granted under sub-section (1) of section 16 (as adapted by or under subsequent enactments) of the Forgery Act, 1913, or otherwise, such bank note, machinery, implement, utensil, or material (as the case may be) shall, by order of the court by which any person is tried for an offence in relation thereto or, if no person is so tried, by order of the justice of the District Court or by direction of the Peace Commissioner (as the case may be) by whom such warrant was granted, be delivered up to the Commission or a person authorised by the Commission to receive the same or, if such order is made after the appointed day, to the Bank or a person authorised by the Bank to receive the same.

Making, etc. a document purporting to be or resembling a bank note.

55. —(1) If any person makes, or causes to be made, or uses for any purpose whatsoever, or utters any document purporting to be, or in any way resembling, or so nearly resembling as to be calculated to deceive, a bank note or part of a bank note, he shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(2) Where a person, is convicted of an offence under the foregoing sub-section of this section, it shall be lawful for the court by which he is so convicted to order that the document in respect of which such offence was committed and all copies of such document and all plates, blocks, dies, and other instruments used for or capable of being used for printing or reproducing such document which are in the possession of the person so convicted to be delivered up to the Commission or, if such order is made after the appointed day, to the Bank.

(3) If any person whose name appears on a document the making of which is an offence under sub-section (1) of this section refuses without lawful excuse to disclose to a member of the Gárda Síochána, on being required by such member so to do, the name and address of the person by whom such document was printed or otherwise made, the said person so refusing shall be guilty of an offence under this sub-section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(4) The fact that the name of a particular person appears on a document in respect of which he or any other person is charged with an offence under sub-section (1) of this section or appears on any other document used or distributed in connection with that document shall, until the contrary is proved, be evidence that the person whose name so appears made or caused to be made the said document in respect of which the said charge is brought.

Prohibition of unauthorised money.

56. —(1) No person shall make, provide, issue, re-issue, or give or receive in payment any document (not being a document excluded by this section from the operation of this section) in writing (whether written on paper or on any other substance or material) which complies with both of the following conditions, that is to say:—

(a) the document purports or is expressed to be or is in fact exchangeable for a specified sum of lawful money on presentation by the holder for the time being thereof to a particular person or any two or more particular persons, whether such person or persons is or are or is not or are not specified in the document and whether such presentation is or is not subject to restrictions as to time and place and whether such restrictions (if any) are or are not stated in the document, and

(b) the document is intended or purports or appears to be intended to circulate as money or to be used as a substitute for lawful money, whether generally or for a particular purpose or within a particular area.

(2) Every person who makes, provides, issues, re-issues, or gives or receives in payment any document in contravention of the foregoing sub-section of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds,

(3) Where a document is or purports or is expressed to be made, provided, issued, re-issued, or given or received in payment by or on behalf of a club, association, committee, council, or other body which is not incorporated, every member of that body shall be guilty of an offence under this section and be punishable accordingly.

(4) In any prosecution of a person for an offence under this section, the burden of proof that the document in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed was not intended and does not purport or appear to be intended to circulate as money or to be used as a substitute for lawful money (whether generally or for a particular purpose or within a particular area) shall lie on the person so prosecuted, and, unless and until the contrary is proved, it shall be presumed that the said document was intended (in contravention of this section) to circulate as money and be used as a substitute for lawful money.

(5) Every of the following documents is excluded from the operation of this section, that is to say:—

(a) bank notes;

(b) postal orders, post office money orders, and other documents issued by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs;

(c) bank drafts, deposit receipts, and other documents issued by any bank;

(d) bills of exchange not payable on presentation;

(e) promissory notes for not less than five pounds;

(f) cheques drawn on a banker, including cheques drawn by a banker on himself;

(g) tallies which—

(i) are (whether before or after the passing of this Act) issued or provided by a club or association the members of which consist wholly or mainly of persons who are for the time being unemployed, and

(ii) circulate only amongst the members of such club or association, and

(iii) are so issued or provided and are used solely for the purpose of enabling goods produced or services rendered by members of such club or association to be exchanged between members of such club or association.

Amendment of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

57. —(1) Section 17 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, is hereby amended by the deletion of the words “British currency” and the insertion, in lieu of those words, of the words “currency which is for the time being legal tender in the State”.

(2) Section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, shall be construed and have effect as if the following articles were added to the Table of Prohibitions and Restrictions Inwards in that section, that is to say:—

(a) counterfeits of legal tender notes, and

(b) counterfeits of consolidated bank notes.