COURT OF CASSATION 9 June 1900 MM. Saleh Sabet Pasha (Pres.); de Hults, Cassem Amin Bey, Youssef Chawki Bey, Halton (JJ.); Muhammad Safwat Bey (State Rep.) STATE REPRESENTATIVE v. ABDEL HAFIZ IBRAHIM AND ANOTHER (P.C. Arts 192-193—C.C.C. Pr. Arts 273 follg.). Forgery—Uttering—Relying on document in a civil cause—Improbation—Prescription of criminal proceedings. A person who as defendant in a civil cause relies upon a forged document, is guilty of uttering a forgery, and each time that he so relies upon it, he commits a distinct offence. However, if in the course of this trial the other party commences improbation proceedings with respect to the document in question, the series of offences of uttering the forgery must be held to have terminated at the moment when the declaration was made at the registry in accordance with Art. 273 C.C.C. Pr., and it is from this moment that the period of prescription of criminal proceedings begins to run. For the fact that the document is thenceforth no longer in the hands of the said defendant (Art. 274 follg. C.C.C. Pr.) and that it is known to be impugned as forged, renders impossible any effective uttering thereof subsequently. Moreover, when once the improbation proceedings are commenced, the defendant must be regarded as in the same position as an accused person on his trial, and his right of free defence requires that he should be permitted to allege that the document is genuine without thereby rendering himself guilty of a fresh offence of uttering a forgery.