Under some statutes it is an offense to solicit a bribe though none is offered.8

The offense is complete by the offer of the bribe so far as the offer is concerned; and if the offer is accepted both parties are punishable.9

1 4 Blackstone Com., 139; 3 Greenl. Ev., Sec. 71 (Redf. Ed.); Walch vs. People, 65 Ill., 59; State vs. Miles, 89 Me., 142.

Watson vs. State, 29 Ark., 299; Curran vs. Taylor, 92 Ky., 537.

3 Com. vs. Murray, 135 Mass., 530.

4 Cook vs. Shipman, 24 Ill., 614.

5 State vs. Potts, 78 Iowa, 656, constable; State vs. McDonald, 106 Ind., 233, township trustee; People vs. Markham, 64 Cal., 157, policeman; 4 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, 910 (2nd Ed.).

6 Christie vs. People, 206 Ill., 337.

7 Walch vs. People, 65 Ill., 58;

Curran vs. Taylor, 92 Ky., 537; Roscoe's Cr. Ev., 343 (10th Ed.).

8 People vs. Hurley, 126 Cal., 351.

The guilt of the person offering a bribe does not depend upon the guilt of the taker, but is completed whether the officer bribed agrees or intends to carry out the purpose for which the bribe was given or not.10 And even though the person bribed does not perform his promise but directly violates it, the offense is complete.11

So one who delivers money to a magistrate for the purpose of influencing his decision in a matter pending before him, commits the offense of giving the gift, although the magistrate knows not what it is for.12