State v. Gibson

In State v. Gibson, 169 N.C. 318, 320, 85 S.E. 7, 8 (1915), our Supreme Court reversed a conviction for obtaining money under false pretenses where the indictment alleged that the defendant had obtained $ 350.00 and the evidence was that the defendant signed and obtained a promissory note for that amount. Id. The Court reasoned that there was a substantial difference between "money" and a "promissory note," and they concluded that the difference between the allegation and the evidence was fatal. Id. The outcome in Gibson can be distinguished from the case at bar, as that case was decided under prior North Carolina law. Gibson was decided in 1915 under Revisal of 1905, 3432 (predecessor of N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-100). This earlier false pretense statute made indictable the obtaining by a false pretense, any money, goods, property, or other thing of value, or any bank note, check, or order for the payment of money, . . . or on any treasury warrant, debenture, certificate of stock, or public security, or any order, bill of exchange, bond, promissory note, or other obligation, either for the payment of money or for the delivery of specific articles, with intent to cheat or defraud any person or corporation . . . .Revisal of 1905, 3432. In Gibson, the Court found that the law, "classifies those things the obtaining of which by a false pretense is made criminal, and carefully distinguishes between them, and assigns to each its own proper name and designation, as something separate and distinct from the others." Gibson, 169 N.C. at 321, 85 S.E. at 9. Whereas Revisal of 1905, 3432 specifically named and indicated each thing one could be indicted for obtaining by a false pretense, our statute today, N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-100, has been broadened to make indictable the obtaining by a false pretense any "money, goods, property, services, chose in action, or other thing of value . . . ." N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-100.