Evidence Commons^™

Evidence Of Survivorship In Common Disaster Cases, John E. Tracy, John J. Adams

Michigan Law Review

Almost daily, newspapers recount the details of another automobile accident or airplane crash in which numerous persons are killed--a common disaster. And determination of survivorship in common disaster cases presents some of the most vexing problems that lawyers and judges meet. Lawyers must search for evidence, frequently hard to obtain, and then must face difficult questions of relevancy, materiality, and probative value, since in almost all cases where any evidence is available it is wholly circumstantial. Judges must decide preliminary disputes over who shall bear the burden of proof, and then must rule on the sufficiency of evidence, which is …

Evidence - Degrees Of Secondary Evidence - Problems In Application Of The So-Called "American" Rule, William H. Klein

Michigan Law Review

Since 1710 the courts of the Anglo-American juridical system have been seeking a solution to the problem of the existence of degrees of secondary evidence. Those courts which have determined that there are degrees have been confronted with the second problem concerning the circumstances under which the secondary evidence rule will actually preclude the admission of the evidence offered. In the majority of decisions the courts have relied on precedent, or on statements of text writers, stripped of their context, and have failed to. seek the solution in terms of the purposes for which rules of evidence have been devised. …

Arrest - Searches And Seizures - Reasonable Ground For Arrest Without Warrant, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was indicted for receiving and concealing seventy grains of heroin unlawfully imported into the United States. The government proposed to introduce the seized drug in evidence at the trial of the defendant. It appeared that the federal narcotic agent who had made the arrest without a warrant had seen the defendant enter and leave a grocery store. in which narcotic transactions were known to have taken place, He knew the defendant to be an addict, and immediately preceding the arrest, in accordance with a prearranged code, he had been informed by a companion of the defendant, known to …

Admissibility Of Judgments Appointing Guardians

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Case Notes: Evidence - Testamentary Capacity

Libel And Slander - Privileged Reports Of Public Proceedings - Confession To Prosecuting Attorney Implicating Plaintiff, James D. Ritchie

Michigan Law Review

Defendant published in its newspaper the contents of confessions made to a prosecuting attorney by third parties, implicating plaintiff in crimes for which he had been indicted but the commission of which he denied. In an action for damages for libel, held, that the taking of the confession was neither a judicial proceeding nor an official proceeding authorized by law, and therefore its publication was not privileged. Caller Times Publishing Co. v. Chandler, (Tex. 1939) 130 S. W. (2d) 853.

Torts - Evidence - Res Ipsa Loquitur Doctrine - Application In Pennsylvania, Robert A. Solomon

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff sued defendant power company for damages resulting from the destruction of his building by fire. The electricity furnished by defendant, after being reduced by a transformer, passed from its main line through an auxiliary line to a point a few inches from plaintiff's building where it was connected with the wiring system of the building which had been installed, and at the time of the accident was controlled, by plaintiff. Failing to show by direct proof that the transformer was defective and the proximate cause of the loss, plaintiff's claim for negligent destruction of his building was predicated …

Proceedings Of The Second Annual Law Institute - Vol Ii, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

Proceedings of the Second Annual Law Institute Vol II

Held at the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday June 20-22, 1940

Impeachment By A Party Of His Own Witness - Chenoweth V. Baltimore Contracting Company

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Constitutional Law - Use Of Statutory Presumptions In Criminal Cases, Edward M. Watson

Michigan Law Review

The recent efforts on the part of state legislatures to increase the effectiveness of their criminal codes has resulted in extending the use of the statutory presumption to new fields of criminal law. The reaction which necessarily follows such an innovation upon traditional practice has appeared in the form of renewed attacks upon the constitutionality of the device, accompanied by the usual expressions of alarm concerning the "threat to liberty" that lurks in the use of this "mechanistic" instrument of "arbitrary oppression."

Appeal And Error - Harmless And Prejudicial Error, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In the trial of defendant for embezzlement, the prosecutor's opening address to the jury included a hearsay statement, regarding a tacit admission by defendant, tending to establish his guilt. Subsequently in the trial such hearsay statement was not allowed in evidence and the defendant now claims on appeal from conviction that the opening statement was prejudicial and thus he is entitled to a new trial. Held, that the statute governing reversals by an appellate court for prejudicial errors did not apply; and that a new trial follows as a matter of course because of a deprivation of the constitutional …

Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, John S. Pennell

Michigan Law Review

Following the report of the Commonwealth Fund Committee, in which they advocated the adoption of a model act to govern the admission of business entries as evidence, a comparatively small number of states have enacted legislation of this kind, either the model act or an act of similar nature. The extent of this comment is to show: (1) in what states hospital records have been held not to be admissible as business entries, the states where there has been no decision on the subject, and the states where the status of the rule is in doubt; (2) the states where …

Evidence - Criminal Law And Procedure - Admissibility Of Recording Made On Device At Receiving End Of Telephone Conversation, William H. Klein

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for conspiracy to violate the narcotic laws, defendant objected to the admission of a recorded telephone conversation between himself and an informer, taken down by the latter on a device attached to the receiver. Defendant contended that this was inadmissible under the rule of Nardone v. United States. Held, the evidence was not intercepted, therefore not within the purview of the Federal Communications Act and, consequently, admissible despite the Nardone decision. United States v. Yee Ping Jong, (D. C. Pa. 1939) 26 F. Supp. 69.

Evidence - Use Of Transcript Of Grand Jury Proceedings To Refresh Memory Of Witness - Right Of Opponent To Inspect Transcript, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In a criminal prosecution under the anti-trust laws, counsel for the United States, in the cross-examination of witnesses for the defense, based certain questions upon a transcript of the testimony of these same witnesses before the grand jury. The transcripts were used for the sole purpose of refreshing the memories of the hostile witnesses. The transcripts were not placed in the hands of the witnesses, but the witnesses were asked, "Did you testify thus-and-so before the grand jury?" The district court refused the demand of the defense counsel that they be allowed to inspect the transcript thus used for the …

Suggested Improvements In The Law Of Evidence, Alfred J. Schweppe, Edwin Gruber, Robert M. Jones, Charles M. Moriarty, Judson F. Falknor, Walter B. Beals

Washington Law Review

The Washington Committee on Judicial Administration assigned a section of its membership to study the law of evidence in the state of Washington in the light of the Reports of the Section of Judicial Administration of the American Bar Association, published in July, 1938. The observations and recommendations of the Washington Section on the Law of Evidence appear in the following report.

Evidence - Availability Of Evidence For Consideration By The Jury- Effect Of Lack Of Motion To Strike, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff sued a city for personal in juries sustained as a result of a fall in the street while she was using due care, the fall being caused by a defect in the street. Plaintiff testified on cross-examination that the defect was two and one-half inches from the street car rails, which fact would relieve defendant of liability under sections 3752 and 3755 of the Connecticut General Statutes. The plaintiff, on rebuttal, testified that the defect was twenty-eight inches from the rail. Defendant's counsel objected to this after the answer was given, and the objection was sustained. The verdict …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Evidence - Admissibility Of Lie Detector Tests In Evidence, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

After all the evidence had been produced for the jury's consideration in a murder trial, defendant's counsel moved to reopen the case and be permitted to take defendant to a laboratory to be examined under a pathometer, or lie detector. Held, that as the court could not take judicial notice that the instrument was or was not effective for determining the truth, because the record gave no indication of general scientific recognition, the motion was denied. People v. Forte, 279 N. Y. 204, 18 N. E. (2d) 31, affg. (King Co. Ct. 1938) 4 N. Y. S. (2d) …

Criminal Law And Procedure - New Trial - Motion For New Trial For Newly Discovered Evidence - Recantation By Important Witness For The State, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

After conviction of rape allegedly committed upon defendant's thirteen year old daughter, defendant, on motion for new trial, produced an affidavit of the daughter recanting the testimony against defendant which the daughter had given at the trial. Held, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant a new trial. Sutton v. State, (Ark. 1938) 122 S. W. (2d) 617.

Searches And Seizures - Effect Of Coercion - Waiver Of Constitutional Privilege By Wife In Husband's Absence, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The defendant and his son were shot as prowlers while they were taking a "short-cut" through the informant's barnyard. They managed to reach home, where after a physician's treatment they were placed under arrest and taken to jail on a charge of stealing the informant's chickens. Later some of the arresting officers returned to the defendant's home without a search warrant. Whether or not the wife's consent was secured is disputed, but a search was made of the defendant's henhouse, and thirty-one chickens were seized as stolen property. Before the commencement of the trial, a motion filed by the defendant …

Evidence - Hearsay Rule - Use Of "Res Gestae", Henry L. Pitts

Michigan Law Review

In an action on a life policy which acknowledged receipt of the first premium, the insurer-defendant claimed that no premium payment was made and that delivery was only to allow inspection and comparison with a specimen copy of the policy already in the hands of insured's wife. The district court admitted testimony by the insured's wife, the beneficiary and plaintiff in the action, to the effect that when the insured turned the policy over to her he said it was hers and paid for. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sustained the ruling and, on motion for …

Bills And Notes - Consideration - Burden Of Proof When Holder Not A Holder In Due Course, Robert Meisenholder

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a maid and housekeeper for the decedent, sued the decedent's estate as payee of two checks signed by the decedent and dishonored by the drawee bank. In support of the defense of lack of consideration, the estate introduced evidence that plaintiff had been paid by the estate for her services to the decedent, and that plaintiff's daughter had told the bank's cashier that the checks had been given to her mother by decedent to be cashed when it became certain that decedent would not live. There was no other evidence. Held, the trial court properly directed a verdict …

Evidence-Inference Upon An Inference

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Mailing - Inference Of Mailing Raised Through Proof Of Office Custom, Charles H. Haines

Michigan Law Review

In a suit on an accident insurance policy the defense of the insurer was that timely notice had been given of the revocation of the renewal privilege. At the trial, in order to raise the presumption that the notice was delivered to the insured, proof was offered that the letter was dictated and addressed in the large home office and given to the mail boy for posting according to the office custom. The letter was traced no further. On this evidence the court allowed the jury to find that the notice had been received. Plaintiff appealed. Held, reversed. The …

Labor Law - "Substantial" Evidence To Support The Fact Findings Of The National Labor Relations Board, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Three employees of respondent company, members of a union, were discharged. They had attended an organization meeting of the union two days previous to their discharge. Two hundred of the company's fifteen hundred employees attended, of whom eighteen, including these three, stayed when asked to join. The alleged reasons of the company for the discharge of these men were that one took a fifty-cent lamp at a company banquet a month previously, that another destroyed raw material through faulty adjustment of his machine, and that the third openly expressed resentment because not promoted. As against this, the evidence showed that …

Admissibility Of Evidence Obtained By Wire Tapping - Hitzelberger V. State

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Presumptions And Burden Of Proof In Res Ipsa Loquitur Cases In Maryland, Roszel C. Thomsen

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

On The Rules Of Evidence

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Municipal Ordinances - Admission Of Evidence Of Enactment When Record Is Silent, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

In a suit by a village to require the removal of the equipment of an electric distribution company from the streets of the village, the company sought to introduce in evidence a copy of a purported ordinance giving it a twenty-five year franchise. There was no mention of such an ordinance in the record of proceedings of the village council. Held, such evidence is not admissible to show the acts of a municipal council when the records of its proceedings are available. Village of Deshler v. Southern Nebraska Power Co., 133 Neb. 778, 277 N. W. 77 ( …

Evidence-Best Evidence Rule-Use Of Summaries Of Voluminous Originals, Benjamin H. Dewey

Michigan Law Review

The best evidence rule usually requires that in proving the contents of documents, the documents themselves must be produced. However, the doctrine is firmly established that where the fact or facts to be ascertained can only be determined by the inspection of a large number of records, papers, books of account, or other like documents, the best evidence rule will be relaxed, and an oral or written summary of such voluminous mass of data may be allowed in evidence. This is done on the basis that the production of the originals is impractible, inexpedient and time-devouring, and because the summary …

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?

The Science Of Judicial Proof, H. B. Cooley

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.