Law Commons^™

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Dismissal Of Prosecution For Reference To Other Crimes Of Defendant, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

Any discussion of Judge Pecora's declaration of a mistrial in People v. Hines must adhere firmly to the fundamental proposition that every accused person, no matter how evident his guilt nor how great the hostility toward him, is entitled to a fair trial, conducted in accord with established rules, and to the verdict of a jury uninfluenced by improper factors. But did the judge's ruling perhaps exceed what was reasonably necessary to assure the defendant of these essentials?

Coroners - Inquests - Right To Exhume Body After Burial, James W. Mehaffy

Michigan Law Review

Two weeks after burial of deceased, report was received of analysis of contents of the stomach, indicating death by poisoning. The coroner desired to hold an inquest for further investigation five weeks after burial, and sought to exhume the body for that purpose. The husband of the deceased sought to enjoin the exhumation. Held, the body may be exhumed. Sejrup v. Shepard, (Minn. 1937) 275 N. W. 687.

The Science Of Judicial Proof, H. B. Cooley

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Appeal And Error - Effect Of Rule That Appellate Court Can Take Notice Of The Failure Of The Defendant To Testify, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In affirming a conviction on an indictment for conspiracy to cheat and defraud, the Illinois Appellate Court, an intermediate court of appeals, decided that the evidence was sufficient to justify the jury in concluding that the representations made by the defendants were false. The defendants brought error to review the judgment of the Appellate Court, one ground being that in considering the sufficiency of the evidence, the Appellate Court took notice of the fact that the defendants failed to take the stand and explain the representations. Held, it was not error for the Appellate Court on review to consider …

Witnesses - Effect Of Mental Deficiency On Competency And Credibility, Erwin B. Ellmann

Michigan Law Review

Inquiry into the admissibility of evidence showing mental deficiency in a witness is suggested by State v. Teager, a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Iowa. Defendant, charged with assault with intent to commit rape, offered to prove by a school teacher that the complaining witness, a child twelve years old, was "at least two years behind in her school work . . . subnormal mentally . . . and ought to be in an institution . . . . " No objection had been made to the competency of such witness. It was held that the evidence …

Evidence - Judicial Notice Of Medical Facts - Judge's Right Of Private Investigation, Edward D. Ransom

Michigan Law Review

A recent case, Anderson v. Jersey Creamery Co., invokes a discussion of the problems of judicial knowledge particularly as it is pertinent to cases involving medical science. This was an action under the Survival Act for electrocution of defendant's employee, who, while working in a wet truck, came in contact with a charged conduit. To maintain the action it was necessary to show that the death was not instantaneous. The father of the deceased testified that he saw his son's face twitch and fingers move while resuscitation was being attempted with a pulmotor. The plaintiff produced no medical testimony …

Witnesses - Privileged Professional Communications As Affected By The Presence Of Third Parties, Dan K. Cook

Michigan Law Review

Interesting problems arise in regard to privileged communications when made to the professional confidant in the presence of a third person. Such problems are concerned with the manner and degree in which the privilege is altered or destroyed by the presence of such third persons. It is the purpose of this comment to discuss the attorney-client and physician-patient privileges as affected by the presence of a third person, where the professional confidant and his client or patient are aware of such presence.

Witnesses - Contradiction Of Party's Own Testimony By Other Witnesses Called By Him, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In an automobile guest action for injuries received when defendant drove his auto against the center pier of a viaduct on a city street, wherein the only defense was plaintiff's contributory negligence in remaining in the auto with knowledge that defendant was intoxicated, defendant testified that he was not under the influence of liquor. Held, defendant could not thereafter offer testimony of other witnesses to prove he was intoxicated at a time shortly after the accident, since his own testimony was in regard to facts peculiarly within his own knowledge and given apparently in good faith. Vondrashek v. Dignan …

Evidence Legislation At The 1937 Session

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Admissibility Of Evidence Obtained By Unlawful Search And Seizure - Sugarman V. State

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence - The Use Of Corporate Minutes In Evidence, Francis T. Goheen

Michigan Law Review

In their treatment of the principles applicable to the use of corporate minutes in evidence, the courts and the text writers have, with little or no explanation, used the language of both the parol evidence rule and the best evidence rule. Most often the question is rather summarily dismissed, and the court's opinion generally discloses very little in the way of enlightening information regarding the reasons for the exclusion or the admission and effect of the offered minutes. If general propositions are to be formulated relative to the use of corporate minutes under given conditions, such propositions must be based …

Presumptions, Edmund M. Morgan

Washington Law Review

Every writer of sufficient intelligence to appreciate the difficulties of the subject-matter has approached the topic of presumptions with a sense of hopelessness and has left it with a feeling of despair. The great Thayer attempted to bring order out of chaos by reducing the entire doctrine to a simple formula, for which he had very little authority in the judicial decisions, and which for a long time received no real judicial sanction but which later received much lip-service and recently has been rigorously applied in a few cases. Wigmore has been content to accept Thayer almost without qualification. Both …

Evidence - Exceptions To Hearsay Rule - Physician's Testimony As To Statements Of Symptoms Made By Patient, Benjamin H. Dewey

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, while in the employ of the defendant, was injured when a ditch he was engaged in digging caved in upon him. Defendant alleged that the shock made active theretofore dormant pulmonary tuberculosis. He received treatment from a physician at the time of the injury. Upon plaintiff's suit under the Texas Workmen's Compensation Act, the physician was allowed to testify, over defendant's objection, that about a month and a half after the injury, the plaintiff had come to the physician's office, and reported that his sputum was stained with blood. On appeal, it was held, one judge dissenting, that …

Admissions, Edmund M. Morgan

Washington Law Review

In Greenleaf's first edition, he adopted the dictum of Mascardus that an admission is not evidence but a substitute for proof. This was repeated in the first fourteen editions following, was copied by Taylor, was accepted by Wharton, apparently acquiesced in by Thayer, and later strenuously insisted upon by Professor Gifford at Columbia. Unless the dictum be given the interpretation put upon it by Gifford, that it takes the place of proof so long as the jury does not disbelieve it, it would seem to mean that an extra-judicial admission stands on the same basis as an admission made in …

Evidence--Incompetency Of Witnesses--Time Of Objection, M. E. L., E. W. E.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Res Gestae, Edmund M. Morgan

Washington Law Review

A multitude of cases creates chaos in this subject. Even so great a scholar and lawyer as Simon Greenleaf was unable to clarify the topic when the decisions were fewer and simpler. Mr. (afterwards Mr. Justice) Pitt Taylor, the author of Taylor on Evidence, copied Greenleaf word for word; but when in controversy with Mr. Chief Justice Cockburn over Bedinglield's case, had to confess that his text consisted of words "full of sound, signifying nothing". He insisted, however, that the definition which the Chief Justice had framed left him "enveloped in a fog, dense as that by which I am …

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company V. Marie H. Justis

Virginia Supreme Court Records, Volume 168

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia at Richmond

The Effect In Virginia Of Conviction Of Crime On Competency And Credibility Of Witnesses, Dudley Warner Woodbridge

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Curative Admissibility, Theodore R. Vogt

Michigan Law Review

If one party be permitted, for any reason, to introduce inadmissible evidence, may his opponent counter with like evidence to offset any· advantage the former may have obtained? Or, as Dean Wigmore puts it: "Does one inadmissibility justify or excuse another?"

The problem is again brought to notice by the decision of the Iowa Supreme Court in the recent case of Maasdam v. Jefferson County Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association. In that case the lower court was reversed because it refused to permit the defendant to introduce evidence as to the market value of the insured articles after plaintiff had …

The Hearsay Rule, Edmund M. Morgan

Washington Law Review

Any attempt to define a legal concept makes advisable an inquiry into its origin and evolution. If it be a substantive law concept, the social purpose that is designed to serve—whether the avoidance of evils or the creation or furtherance of positive benefits—must be considered. If it be a concept of procedural law, the functions it is, or is thought to be, designed to perform in the process of reaching the factual and legal bases for satisfactory determination of disputes between litigants must be examined. It is proposed, therefore, first to look briefly at the causes which brought the hearsay …

Taxation-Proceeding Before United States Board Of Tax Appeals -Validity Of Subpoena Duces Tecum - Unreasonable Search And Seizure, Royal E. Thompson

Michigan Law Review

In a proceeding for judicial process to compel defendant to obey a subpoena duces tecum issued by the United States Board of Tax Appeals, defendant asserted that the documents called for were irrelevant to the issue involved, and that the subpoena was a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Held, a witness is not entitled to resist a subpoena for mere incompetency or irrelevancy. To question admissibility, the papers must be so manifestly irrelevant as to make it plain that it is a mere "fishing expedition." One paragraph of the subpoena was declared invalid, as lacking …

Witnesses - Instruction As To Credibility Of Police Officers And Paid Detectives, Theodore R. Vogt

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was convicted of violating the liquor laws. He complained of the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury that greater care should be used in weighing the evidence of police officers than that of other witnesses. Held, such an instruction was properly refused because the witnesses were regular members of the city police force. McCartney v. State, 129 Neb. 716, 262 N. W. 679 (1935).

Evidence--Hearsay--Res Gestae Exception--Necessity That Declarant Have Knowledge--Qualifications Of Ordinary Witness, V. V. C.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence -- Competency Of Wife To Testify Against Husband--Rules Of Evidence In Federal Court, Philip A. Hart

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was convicted of transporting a female in interstate commerce for immoral purposes. Over the defendant's objection the trial court permitted testimony against him to be given by the defendant's wife. This ruling he assigned as error but held a wife is competent as a witness against her husband. Yoder v. United States, (C. C. A. 10th, 1935) 80 F. (2d) 665.

Evidence - Statutory Presumptions In Criminal Cases - Constitutionality - Due Process, Malcolm L. Denise

Michigan Law Review

Defendant admitted killing deceased with unlicensed pistol. The trial court instructed the jury pursuant to a statute which provided that in the trial of a person charged with committing or attempting to commit a felony against the person of another while armed with any firearm capable of being concealed upon the person, without having a license or permit to carry such firearm, the fact that he was so armed should be prima facie evidence of his intent to commit such felony. Upon objection that the statute was unconstitutional as depriving defendant of due process of law, the court held that …

Workmen's Compensation-Burden Of Proof Of Cause Of Accident- Presumptions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Decedent, who was an employee of respondent, was found dead in respondent's store with a rope around his neck and legs. The doctor found that death was caused by asphyxiation by hanging. The deputy commissioner held that petitioner had not sustained the burden of proving that decedent met with an "accident arising out of and in the course of" employment, and that the mere finding of the body of an employee on the premises of an employer will not alone raise a presumption that there was an "accident arising out of and in the course of" the employment. Dietz v. …

Evidence-Alienation Of Affections-Wife's Testimony As To Statements Made To Her By Alienated Husband Concerning Defendant

Michigan Law Review

In a suit for alienation of husband's affections, plaintiff testified as to certain statements made by her husband in the absence of the defendant. These statement purported to be repetitions of statements made by the defendant to plaintiff's husband. Defendant objected to the admission of this testimony on the ground that it was hearsay. The court held that the testimony was admissible, not to prove the truth of the facts, words, or conduct embodied in the statements and chargeable to the defendant, but to show the husband's state of mind toward the plaintiff. Richards v. Lorleberg, (App. D. C. …

Verbal Acts And Spontaneous Declarations, Robert E. Ireton

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law--Evidence--Admissibility Of Evidence Of Trailing By Bloodhounds, George T. Skinner

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evidence -Admissibility Of Statements Of Fact Made During Negotiation For Compromise, John E. Tracy

Michigan Law Review

At present, the various jurisdictions hold with comparative uniformity that while offers to settle a dispute are not admissible in evidence, statements of independent fact made during such compromise negotiation are admissible. The routes of logic by which the courts arrive at this similarity in result are marked by some fundamental differences, as will be shown later, but the result is the same under any theory. The question therefore presents itself, whether the distinction made by the courts between the admissibility of offers to compromise and statements of fact made during compromise negotiations can be justified under a system of …