What is the meaning of "forgery" in section 470 of the Ontario Criminal Code?

The words of section 470 bear a "peculiar and appropriate meaning" taken from the common law. As was said in 1896, "[A]s to what constitutes forgery of instruments which are subjects of forgery, the definitions at common law and by our code are the same. 'Forgery, at common law, is the false making or material altering, with intent to defraud, of any writing which, if genuine, might apparently be of legal efficacy, or the foundation of a legal liability.' " (People v. Bendit, supra, 111 Cal. at p. 280, 43 P. 901.) That is evident in section 470 by the detailed attention which is shown in the listing of instruments which may be made the subjects of forgery.