State v. Bowen

Pee Cueiam.

This is a prosecution under Pub. Stat. B. I. cap. 78, to charge the defendant as the father of a bastard child. On the trial the court below instructed the jury that they could convict upon a preponderance of the evidence. The defendant excepted. We think the instruction was right. The proceeding, though in form criminal, is in effect civil, and therefore it is not necessary to conviction that the evidence should exclude every reasonable doubt, but a preponderance of proof is sufficient. The following cases, cited for the complainant, are precisely in point: Semon v. The People, 42…