ABRIDGMENT

OF

THE LAW OF EVIDENCE

AS STATED IN THE STANDARD WORK OF GREENLEAF ON
EVIDENCE AND TAKEN THEREFROM BY PERMISSION
OF THE OWNERS; TO WHICH IS ADDED MANY NOTES
AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM OTHER TEXT-BOOKS

IN GENERAL USE. THE REFERENCES ARE

TO SECTIONS OF THE ORIGINAL WORK

ANALYSIS.

Nature and principles of evidence.
Preliminary observations.

Things judicially taken notice of without proof.
Grounds of belief.

Evidence-definition of.

Direct or positive.

Circumstantial.

Presumptive.

Presumptions of law.

Conclusive.

Disputable.

Presumptions of fact.

Object of evidence, and rules governing the production of testimony. Relevancy of evidence.

Rules governing production to the jury.

Variance.

Primary and secondary evidence.

Hearsay evidence.

Original evidence often wrongfully called hearsay.
Exceptions to the rule rejecting hearsay evidence.

Admissions.

Confessions.

Evidence excluded from public policy.

Number of witnesses.

Admissibility of parol evidence to affect writings.

Means of proof, or the instruments of evidence.

Witnesses and means of procuring their attendance.
Competency of witnesses.

In regard to parties.

To persons deficient in understanding.

Those insensible to the obligations of an oath
Persons interested.

Examination of witnesses.

Direct examination.

Cross-examination.

Written evidence.

Public document.

Mode of proof.

Records and judicial writings.

Private writings.

EVIDENCE.

NATURE AND PRINCIPLES OF EVIDENCE.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. - Evidence, in legal acceptation, includes all the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is established or disproved.

Proof is that which establishes a thing by competent and satisfactory evidence.

Demonstration is that high degree of evidence of which none but mathematical truth is susceptible.

Moral evidence is that which alone proves matters of act, and also includes all the evidence not obtained either from intuition or from demonstration. (Sec. 1.)

Competent evidenco is that which the very nature of the thing to be proved requires as the fit and appropriate proof in the particular case; as the production of a writing, where its contents are the subject of the inquiry.

Satisfactory evidence-sometimes called sufficient evidence is that amount of proof which ordinarily satisfies an unprejudiced mind beyond reasonable doubt.

Cumulative evidence is evidence of the same kind to the same point.

Corroborative evidence is that which tends to strengthen and confirm. (Sec. 2.)

Things judicially taken notice of, without proof, by the courts, are whatever ought to be generally known within the limits of their jurisdiction. (Sec. 4.)

THE GROUNDS OF BELIEF in evidence are:

First. The uniform habits and necessities of mankind lead us to consider the disposition to belief upon the evidence of extraneous testimony as a fundamental principle

of our moral nature. They constitute the general basis upon which all evidence may be said to rest. (Sec. 9.)

Secondly. A basis of evidence, subordinate to this paramount and original principle, rests upon our faith in human testimony, as sanctioned by experience. (Sec. 10.)

Thirdly. Another basis of evidence is the known and experienced connection subsisting between collateral facts or circumstances, satisfactorily proved, and the fact in controversy. (Sec. 11.)

Fourthly. Another basis claimed, by some writers, is the effect of coincidences in testimony, which, if collusion be excluded, cannot be accounted for upon any other hypothesis than that it is true. (Sec. 12.)

It is said that "the wise and beneficent Author of Nature intended us to be social creatures, and, as a consequence, that we should receive the greater part of our knowledge from others; hence he implanted in our nature a principle or propensity to speak the truth. This principle has a powerful operation, even in the greatest liars; for where they lie once, they speak the truth a hundred times. Truth is always at the door of our lips, and goes forth spontaneously if not held back. It is always uppermost, and the natural issue of the mind, and requires no art, training, inducement, or temptation, but only that we yield to a natural impulse. Lying, on the contrary, is doing violence to our nature, and is never practiced, even by the worst men, without some temptation."

EVIDENCE is direct or positive, and indirect or circum

stantial.

Direct or positive evidence is such where the factum probandum, or fact to be proved, is directly attested by those who speak from their own actual and personal knowledge, the proof applying immediately to the fact to be proved, without any intervening process. It rests upon the second basis of evidence. (Sec. 13.)

Circumstantial evidence is such where the fact to be proved is inferred from other facts satisfactorily proved, the proof applying immediately to collateral facts, supposed to

have a connection, near or remote, with the fact in controversy. It rests upon the third basis of evidence.

Circumstantial evidence is of two kinds, viz.: certain, or that from which the conclusion necessarily follows; and uncertain, or that from which the conclusion does not necessarily follow, but is probable only, and is obtained by a process of reasoning.

A verdict may be well founded on circumstances alone, and these often lead to a conclusion far more satisfactory than direct evidence can produce.

Presumptive evidence is circumstantial evidence, or the evidence afforded by circumstances, with the additional presumption or inference, founded on the known usual connection between the facts proved and the guilt of the party implicated; hence it is a more complex and difficult operation of the mind than in circumstantial evidence, though, in truth, the operation of the mind is similar in both. Presumptive evidence is divided into presumptions of law and presumptions of fact. (Sec. 13.)

Presumptions of law consist of those rules which in certain cases either forbid or dispense with any ulterior inquiry. They are founded upon the first principles of justice, the laws of nature, or the connection usually found to exist between certain things in the experienced course of human conduct and affairs. They are of two kinds, conclusive and disputable. (Sec. 14.)

Conclusive presumptions of law also called imperative or absolute presumptions are rules determining the quantity of evidence requisite for the support of any particular averment, which is not permitted to be overcome by any proof that the fact is otherwise.

Thus, a sane man is conclusively presumed to contemplate the natural and probable consequences of his own acts; therefore the intent to murder is conclusively inferred from the deliberate use of a deadly weapon. (Sec. 18.)

The records of a court of justice are presumed to have been

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