city his headquarters; and in 1846 it was the scene of a
Miguelist insurrection.

The administrative district of Coimbra coincides with the south-western
part of Beira; pop. (1900) 332,168; area 1508 sq. m.

COIN, a town of southern Spain in the province of Malaga; 18 m. W.S.W.
of the city of Malaga. Pop. (1900) 12,326. Coin is finely situated on
the northern slope of the Sierra de Mijas, overlooking the small river
Seco and surrounded by vineyards and plantations of oranges and lemons.
There are marble quarries in the neighbourhood, and, despite the lack of
a railway, Coin has a thriving agricultural trade. The population
increased by more than half between 1880 and 1900.

COIN (older forms of the word are _coyne_, _quoin_ and _coign_, all
derived through the O. Fr. _coing_, and _cuigne_ from Lat. _cuneus_, a
wedge), properly the term for a wedge-shaped die used for stamping
money, and so transferred to the money so stamped; hence a piece of
money. The form "quoin" is used for the external angle of a building
(see QUOINS), and "coign," also a projecting angle, survives in the
Shakespearean phrase "a coign of vantage."

COINAGE OFFENCES. The coinage of money is in all states a prerogative of
the sovereign power; consequently any infringement of that prerogative
is always severely punished, as being an offence likely to interfere
with the well-being of the state.

In the United Kingdom the statute law against offences relating to the
coin was codified by an act of 1861. The statute provides that whoever
falsely makes or counterfeits any coin resembling or apparently intended
to resemble or pass for any current gold or silver coin of the realm (s.
2), or gilds, silvers, washes, cases over or colours with materials
capable of producing the appearance of gold or silver a coin or a piece
of any metal or mixture of metals, or files or alters it, with intent to
make it resemble or pass for any current gold or silver coin (s. 3), or
who buys, sells, receives or pays a false gold or silver coin at a lower
rate than its denomination imports, or who receives into the United
Kingdom any false coin knowing it to be counterfeit (ss. 6, 7), or who,
without lawful authority or excuse, knowingly makes or mends, buys or
sells, or has in his custody or possession, or conveys out of the Royal
Mint any coining moulds, machines or tools, is guilty of felony (ss. 24,
25). The punishment for such offences is either penal