had long been a subject of debate in the House of Commons, was settled in 1832, by uniting Penryn with Falmouth for parliamentary purposes and assigning two members to the united boroughs. By the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the number of members was reduced to one. The fairs granted in 1660 are no longer held, and a Saturday market has superseded the chartered market. In the 17th and 18th centuries Falmouth grew in importance owing to its being a station of the Packet Service for the conveyance of mails.
FALSE POINT, a landlocked harbour in the Cuttack district
of Bengal, India. It was reported by the famine commissioners
in 1867 to be the best harbour on the coast of India from the
Hugli to Bombay. It derives its name from the circumstance
that vessels proceeding up the Bay of Bengal frequently mistook
it for Point Palmyras, a degree farther north. The anchorage
is safe, roomy and completely landlocked, but large vessels are
obliged to lie out at some distance from its mouth in an exposed
roadstead. The capabilities of False Point as a harbour remained
long unknown, and it was only in 1860 that the port was opened.
It was rapidly developed, owing to the construction of the Orissa
canals. Two navigable channels lead inland across the Mahanadi
delta, and connect the port with Cuttack city. The
trade of False Point is chiefly with other Indian harbours, but
a large export trade in rice and oil-seeds has sprung up with
Mauritius, the French colonies and France. False Point is now
a regular port of call for Anglo-Indian coasting steamers. Its
capabilities were first appreciated during the Orissa famine of
1866, when it afforded almost the only means by which supplies
of rice could be thrown into the province. A lighthouse is
situated a little to the south of the anchorage, on the point which
screens it from the southern monsoon.
FALSE PRETENCES, in English law, the obtaining from any
other person by any false pretence any chattel, money or valuable
security, with intent to defraud. It is an indictable misdemeanour
under the Larceny Act of 1861. The broad distinction
between this offence and larceny is that in the former the owner
intends to part with his property, in the latter he does not.
This offence dates as a statutory crime practically from 1756.
At common law the only remedy originally available for an owner
who had been deprived of his goods by fraud was an indictment
for the crime of cheating, or a civil action for deceit. These
remedies were insufficient to cover all cases where money or other
properties had been obtained by false pretences, and the offence
was first partially created by a statute of Henry VIII. (1541),
which enacted that if any person should falsely and deceitfully
obtain any money, goods, &c., by means of any false token or
counterfeit letter made in any other man’s name, the offender
should suffer any punishment other than death, at the discretion
of the judge. The scope of the offence was enlarged to include
practically all false pretences by the act of 1756, the provisions
of which were embodied in the Larceny Act 1861.
The principal points to notice are that the pretence must be a false pretence of some existing fact, made for the purpose of inducing the prosecutor to part with his property (e.g. it was held not to be a false pretence to promise to pay for goods on delivery), and it may be by either words or conduct. The property, too, must have been actually obtained by the false pretence. The owner must be induced by the pretence to make over the absolute and immediate ownership of the goods, otherwise it is “larceny by means of a trick.” It is not always easy, however, to draw a distinction between the various classes of offences. In the case where a man goes into a restaurant and orders a meal, and, after consuming it, says that he has no means of paying for it, it was usual to convict for obtaining food by false pretences. But R. v. Jones, 1898, L.R. 1 Q.B. 119 decided that it is neither larceny nor false pretences, but an offence under the Debtors Act 1869, of obtaining credit by fraud. (See also Cheating; Fraud; Larceny.)
United States.—American statutes on this subject are mainly copied from the English statutes, and the courts there in a general way follow the English interpretations. The statutes of each state must be consulted. There is no Federal statute, though there are Federal laws providing penalties for false personation of the lawful owner of public stocks, &c., or of persons entitled to pensions, prize money, &c. (U.S. Rev. Stats. § 5435), or the false making of any order purporting to be a money order (id. § 5463).
In Arizona, obtaining money or property by falsely personating another is punishable as for larceny (Penal Code, 1901, § 479). Obtaining credit by false pretences as to wealth and mercantile character is punishable by six months’ imprisonment and a fine not exceeding three times the value of the money or property obtained (id. § 481).
In Illinois, whoever by any false representation or writing signed by him, of his own respectability, wealth or mercantile correspondence or connexions, obtains credit and thereby defrauds any person of money, goods, chattels or any valuable thing, or who procures another to make a false report of his honesty, wealth, &c., shall return the money, goods, &c., and be fined and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year (Crim. Code, 1903, ch. xxxviii. §§ 96, 97). Obtaining money or property by bogus cheques, the “confidence game” (Dorr v. People, 1907, § 228, Ill. 216), or “three card monte,” sleight of hand, fortune-telling, &c., is punishable by imprisonment for from one to ten years (id. §§ 98, 100). Obtaining goods from warehouse, mill or wharf by fraudulent receipt wrongly stating amount of goods deposited—by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years (id. § 124). Fraudulent use of railroad passes is a misdemeanour (id. 125a).
In Massachusetts it is simple larceny to obtain by false pretences the money or personal chattel of another (Rev. Laws, 1902, ch. ccviii. § 26). Obtaining by a false pretence with intent to defraud the signature of a person to a written instrument, the false making whereof would be forgery, is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison or by fine (id. § 27).
In New York, obtaining property by false pretences, felonious breach of trust and embezzlement are included in the term “larceny” (Penal Code, § 528; Paul v. Dumar, 106 N.Y. 508; People v. Tattlekan, 1907, 104 N.Y. Suppl. 805), but the methods of proof required to establish each crime remain as before the code. Obtaining lodging and food on credit at hotel or lodging house with intent to defraud is a misdemeanour (Pen. Code, § 382). Purchase of property by false pretences as to person’s means or ability to pay is not criminal when in writing signed by the party to be charged (Pen. Code, § 544).
FALTICHENI (Faltiçenĭ), the capital of the department of
Suceava, Rumania, situated on a small right-hand tributary of
the Sereth, among the hills of north-west Moldavia, and 2 m.
S.E. of the frontier of Bukovina. Pop. (1900) 9643, about half
being Jews. A branch railway runs for 15 m. to join the main
line between Czernowitz in Bukovina, and Galatz. The Suceava
department (named after Suceava or Suciava, its former capital,
now Suczawa in Bukowina) is densely forested; its considerable
timber trade centres in Falticheni. For five weeks, from the
20th July onwards, Russians and Austro-Hungarians, as well as
Rumans, attend the fair which is held at Falticheni, chiefly for
the sale of horses, carriages and cattle.
FALUN, a town of Sweden, capital of the district (län) of Kopparberg, 153 m. N.W. of Stockholm by rail. Pop. (1900) 9606. It is situated in a bare and rocky country near the western shore of lake Runn. Here are the oldest and most celebrated copper mines in Europe. Their produce has gradually decreased since the 17th century, and is now unimportant, but sulphate of copper, iron pyrites, and some gold, silver, sulphur and sulphuric acid, and red ochre are also produced. The mines belong to the Kopparberg Mining Company (Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags Aktiebolag, formerly Kopparbergslagen). This is the oldest industrial corporation in Sweden, and perhaps the oldest still existing in the world; it is known to have been established before 1347. Since its reorganization as a joint-stock company in 1890 many of the shares have been held by the crown, philanthropic institutions and other public bodies. The company also owns iron mines, limestone and quartz quarries, large iron-works at Domnarfvet and elsewhere, a great extent of forests and
