Underwood v. Strasser

The Wisconsin statute authorizes and limits the questioning of witnesses as to prior criminal convictions in these words:

“A person who hag been convicted of a criminal offense is, notwithstanding, a competent witness, but the conviction may be proved to affect his credibility, either by the record or by his own cross-examination, upon which he must answer any question relevant to that inquiry, and the party cross-examining him is not concluded by his answer.”

This statutory provision applies to civil actions, as well as to criminal cases. No distinction between the two categories of cases is…