Amendments to Arts. 300 and 301 of the Penal Code (Falsification of Public, Official, and Commercial Documents)

March 17, 1917

ACT NO. 2712

AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLES THREE HUNDRED AND THREE HUNDRED AND ONE OF THE PENAL CODE, RELATIVE TO THE FALSIFICATION OF PUBLIC, OFFICIAL, AND COMMERCIAL DOCUMENTS

SECTION 1. Article three hundred of the Penal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

"ART. 300. The penalty of prision mayor and a fine in a sum of not less than two hundred and fifty and not more than twelve thousand five hundred pesetas and, in addition thereto, perpetual disqualification from any public office, shall be imposed upon any public officer, employee or notary who, by taking advantage of his official position, shall be guilty of falsification of a document by committing any of the following acts:

"1. By counterfeiting or imitating any handwriting, signature, or rubric;

"2. By causing it to appear that persons have participated in any act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate;

"3. By attributing to persons who have participated in an act or proceeding statements other than those in fact made by them;

"4. By making untruthful statements in a narration of facts;

"5. By altering true dates;

"6. By making any alteration or intercalation in a genuine document which changes its meaning;

"7. By issuing in authenticated form a document purporting to be a copy of an original document when no such original exists, or by including in such a copy a statement contrary to, or different from, that of the genuine original;

"8. By intercalating any instrument or note relative to the issuance thereof in a protocol, registry or official book.

"Any ecclesiastical minister who shall commit any of the offenses enumerated in the preceding paragraphs of this article with respect to any record or document of such a character that its falsification may affect the civil status of persons or produce results affecting interests not merely ecclesiastical shall suffer the penalty designated in paragraph one of this article."

SECTION 2. Article three hundred and one of the Penal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:

"ART. 301. Any private individual who shall commit any of the falsifications enumerated in the next preceding article in any public or official document, letter of exchange, or other commercial document shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its maximum degree and be fined in a sum not less than two hundred and fifty and not more than twelve thousand five hundred pesetas."

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on its passage.

Approved: March 17, 1917 dctai