Rankin

Appellants were convicted of 10 counts of violation of section 26104, subdivision (a), Corporations Code, through the sale of undivided interests and issuance of certificates of interest in a mining title and lease without first securing a permit from the Commissioner of Corporations. Each appeals from the judgment and an order denying his motion for new trial.

Appellants’ main argument is that there could be no violation of the statute because they merely induced the complaining witnesses to join with them in locating mining claims on public lands and collected $250 for each one-eighth fractional interest in consideration of their services in perfecting the filing, recording, monumenting and other acts necessary to *96 complete the claim through which they and the alleged victims acquired title as tenants in common; that their furnishing co-owners with copies of the location notices was not the issuance of a certificate of interest in a mining title or lease within the purview of section 25008, Corporations Code. As will appear, we find that the evidence justifies this factual contention in certain instances but not in others. Hence it first must be determined whether such a…

I concur in the conclusion of the majority that the judgment and order as to Counts V to X, inclusive, should be affirmed. I dissent, however, from those portions of the majority opinion which hold that the judgment and order should be reversed as to Counts I to IV, inclusive.

Discussions between court and counsel in the court below as contained in the record before us discloses that the learned trial judge had clearly in mind the well settled rules of law by which it is to be determined whether the instruments involved are “securities” within the purview of the applicable statute or whether they represented interests in a bona fide joint venture, which are expressly exempted from its application. The evidence supporting the trial court’s judgment on all counts impresses me as being not only substantial but clear and convincing.

I find myself in complete accord with the apparently unanimous view of counsel for appellants, the district attorney, the attorney general, and the trial judge that all ten transactions are substantially the same in character. As appellants correctly state in their opening brief, “ [T]he testimony given by all of the witnesses was very similar in…

Appellants were convicted of 10 counts of violation of section 26104, subdivision (a), Corporations Code, through the sale of undivided interests and issuance of certificates of interest in a mining title and lease without first securing a permit from the Commissioner of Corporations. Each appeals from the judgment and an order denying his motion for new trial.

Appellants' main argument is that there could be no violation of the statute because they merely induced the complaining witnesses to join with them in locating mining claims on public lands and collected $250 for each one-eighth fractional interest in consideration of their services in perfecting the filing, recording, monumenting and other acts necessary to complete the claim through which they and the alleged victims acquired title as tenants in common; that their furnishing co-owners with copies of the location notices was not the issuance of a certificate of interest in a mining title or lease within the purview of section 25008, Corporations Code. As will appear, we find that the evidence justifies this factual contention in certain instances but not in others. Hence it first must be determined whether…