Forgery

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The word forgery derives from the French forger, which means to make or fabricate. While the majority of modern day acts of forgery are perpetrated for financial gain, early forgeries were produced in order to expand power or prestige. Perhaps the most famous example is the Donation of Constantine (Donatio Constantini). Allegedly written by Emperor Constantine the Great and addressed to Pope Sylvester I, the document ceded authority for the western half of the former Roman Empire to the Roman Church. The document also describes Constantine's conversion to Christianity, including his baptism, profession of faith, and the subsequent miraculous end to his leprosy. In reality the document was produced sometime between 750 and 850 CE, most likely to aid Pope Stephen II in his negotiations with Pepin the Short, who was seeking to supplant the ruling Merovingian royal family. After Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin king in 754, the church was given a large tract of land in Italy, based at least in part on the forged Donation, which provided a basis for papal territorial claims in Italy. The forgery was uncovered in the fifteenth century by Lorenzo Valla, who used a variety of historical analytical techniques to discredit the document. Similarly, chemical analysis of the Iron Crown of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, found that the beeswax used to hold several of the gemstones in place dated to between 700 and 780 CE, twenty years prior to Charlemagne's coronation on December 25, 800. More recently radiocarbon dating was successfully used to examine the authenticity a written account of the conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro (1474–1541).

Although the use of forgery to gain political influence or garner prestige is historically significant, the majority of forgeries alluded to in the criminal code pertain to acts committed for financial gain. Indeed, throughout history, people have attempted to produce copies or replicas of items with tangible value, such as deeds to property, money, or well-known works of art. Roman artists frequently copied Greek sculptures, and counterfeit coins have been found dating back to the reign of King Gyges of Lydia (c. 648 BCE). Often these copies were passed to unsuspecting merchants or buyers who assumed they were genuine. In the time of the Old Testament, representing something as legitimate that the merchant or seller knew was not authentic was a punishable offense. Exodus 20:16 states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The Western legal tradition refers to such misrepresentation as fraud, or theft by deception. One of the most common forms of fraud is the forgery of financial instruments, such as currency, checks, bonds, and postage stamps.

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