Canada: Stop Spocking Fivers

Yes, the “Spocked” Canadian $5 bills are still legally spendable currency according to the Bank of Canada.   But stop it, eh. While defacing or mutilating banknotes is generally discouraged as they are symbols of national pride, it is not illegal under Canadian law.[1][2][4]

However, the Bank of Canada warns that excessively marked or damaged bills may not circulate for as long and risk being rejected by retailers or businesses.[2][4] Disfigured bills could interfere with security features and reduce their lifespan in circulation.[4]

So while it’s not technically illegal to draw Spock features on the $5 bill portraying former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, the Bank considers it “inappropriate” and advises against doing so, as it could cause the bills to be taken out of circulation prematurely.[2][4] But the defaced bills remain valid legal tender unless they are too damaged to be accepted.

Here’s a strange ongoing problem in Canada. Since February 27, 2015 when Leonard Nimoy who played the character of Mister Spock on the TV show Star Trek passed away, people in Canada have been defacing (re-facing?) 5 dollar bills to make Sir Wilfrid Laurier look like Spock.

Bank of Canada is pleading with Star Trek fans to stop “Spocking” its five dollar bills. Since Leonard Nimoy’s death, Canadian folks have been “Spocking” the hell out of the five dollar bill that features a portrait of Canada’s seventh prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
Sir Wilfrid now sports, on certain bills at least, pointy ears, the signature Vulcan haircut and eyebrows and Spock’s mantra “Live long and prosper.”

More at DangerousMinds

Is writing on Canadian currency a crime? Actually, no.

To me he looks a bit more like Severus Snape in this one than Spock, but anyway, stop Spocking the fivers. Wait, someone else agreed:

American currency is not immune to re-facement.

… it’s technically illegal to deface U.S. currency to the point at which it’s rendered unusable. The specific federal law at issue is 18 USC 333, which proscribes criminal penalties against anyone who “mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued.” That’s according to the federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing, or BEP, which quite literally makes money.

Read more at BankRate

So, are these bills unusable? Yes. Are they legal?

States that under U.S. law (18 U.S.C. § 333), it is illegal to “mutilate, cut, deface, disfigure, or perforate” U.S. currency notes with the intent to render them unfit to be reissued.

The results do not provide clear guidance on whether minor, non-fraudulent defacing like drawing faces on bills would constitute illegal mutilation under 18 U.S.C. § 333. More clarity on that specific scenario is lacking.

The Willy Wonka theme:

The Star Wars theme

The famous artist theme

And so on. There are plenty more on line if you look. I would guess that they are not still usable. Would you take one as payment?

Citations
^{[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Willy%3F
[2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/spocking-laurier-on-5-not-illegal-says-bank-of-canada-1.2978860
[3] https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/people/2015/03/04/canadians-spocking-five-dollar-bill/24370069/
[4] https://abcnews.go.com/International/spocking-money-legal-inappropriate-bank-canada/story?id=29381790
[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/03/02/spocking-canadian-currency-is-not-illegal-authorities-say-but-turning-abraham-lincoln-into-bill-murray-probably-is/}