Dickerman v. Graves
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action on the case, tried before Fletcher, J., in this court, for the criminal conversation of the defendant with the plaintiff’s wife. The plaintiff, having first proved that the bonds of matrimony between him and his wife had been dissolved by a decree of this court, subsequent to the time of the alleged criminal intercourse, offered the wife as a witness to prove the charge in the declaration.
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This was an action on the case, tried before Fletcher, J., in this court, for the criminal conversation of the defendant with the plaintiff’s wife. The plaintiff, having first proved that the bonds of matrimony between him and his wife had been dissolved by a decree of this court, subsequent to the time of the alleged criminal intercourse, offered the wife as a witness to prove the charge in the declaration. The defendant objected to the witness as incompetent; but the judge ruled otherwise, and allowed her to testify. The jury found for the plaintiff, and the defendant excepted.
1Opinion of the CourtFletcher, J.
The simple question in this case is, whether the testimony of the wife was rightfully admitted.
There is no principle in the law, and no adjudged case, which would authorize the exclusion of this testimony; on the contrary, it has been expressly adjudged, that a witness, situated precisely as this witness is, was competent, and such testimony admissible. It is a well-settled general rale, that a husband and wife, while that relation exists, cannot testify for or against each other. The reasons of this rule are obvious and familiar. This rule is subject to some exceptions, as where a husband…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Stanton v. WillsonU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut · 1808
- Barnes v. CamackNew York Supreme Court · 1847
- Commonwealth v. ShepherdSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1814
- McGuire v. MaloneyCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1841
- State v. PhelpsSupreme Court of Vermont · 1803
3Cited by1 opinion
- Hogans v. CarruthSupreme Court of Florida · 1882