Dole

The defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of forgery, and from an order denying a new trial.

The specific charge in the information is that the defendant, having in his possession a certified check for two dollars and fifty cents, raised it to eight hundred and fifty dollars, forged certain indorsements on it, and, knowing its fictitious character, passed it on the State Loan and Trust Company, a corporation, all with intent to defraud said corporation.

A demurrer to this information was overruled, and this ruling is the first error assigned in support of the appeal.

The most serious objection to the information is, that it does not show that the Exchange Bank, upon which the check was drawn, had any existence, corporate or otherwise, or that the person whose name was signed to the certification had any authority to certify. It may be conceded that this criticism is just, but it does not follow that the information is therefore bad. An uncertified check is as much the subject of forgery as a certified check, and if it does not appear from this information that the check was certified it remains true that the defendant is well charged with the forgery and utterance of…

I concur in reversing the judgment and the order denying a new trial upon the grounds stated in the opinion of the chief justice.

I do not concur, however, in the views expressed in that opinion respecting the alleged error of the court below in overruling defendant’s objections to certain questions asked him on cross-examination. I think that the ruling of the court below in that matter was erroneous, and that such ruling is an additional ground for reversing the judgment and order appealed from.

In the first place, I do not think that the questions asked the defendant were cross-examination, under section 1323 of the Penal Code; they were not as to matters “about which he was examined in chief.” I do not understand it to have been 'established by this court that a defendant in a criminal case, who has gone upon the stand as a witness for himself, can be cross-examined to the full extent to which the examination of ordinary witnesses may be carried. My views on that subject are expressed in my opinion in People v. Meyer, 75 Cal. 386. (See also *498 recent case of People v. Arrighini, 122 Cal. 121 , where this subject is thoroughly discussed.) But the matter sought to he proved…

I concur in the views of the chief justice as to the scope of the cross-examination of the defendants. When a defendant goes upon the witness stand, and for the first time tells a Munchausen tale as to his connec *499 tion with the affair, I think it proper and legitimate cross-examination to ask him: “Did you ever tell this tale to anybody prior to this time? Did you tell it to the arresting officers?” I believe it is the universal practice to ask such questions, and until now I never heard the practice questioned. To ask and compel answers to those questions is certainly no invasion of defendant’s constitutional rights. There is no power in the law to compel the defendant to take the witness stand in his own behalf, but when he does it he may be asked any question which will show his past conduct to be inconsistent with his present testimony. The rule of law is so declared in the recent case of People v. Gallagher, 100 Cal. 475 . As a general principle, the defendant’s silence may not be proven against him as a circumstance tending to show guilt. But upon cross-examination, if this silence be inconsistent with his present testimony, inquiry may be had upon it.

This case is…