Knowles v. Scribner
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On exceptions. Complaint under tlie bastardy act, charging the respondent, who is a married man, with being the father of the child. At the trial the complainant contended that this is a civil proceeding, and that the rules of evidence applicable in the trial of civil actions should he applied to this case.
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On exceptions. Complaint under tlie bastardy act, charging the respondent, who is a married man, with being the father of the child. At the trial the complainant contended that this is a civil proceeding, and that the rules of evidence applicable in the trial of civil actions should he applied to this case. The presiding judge charged the jury, inter alia, as follows : “ In the cases which have come before you, you have predicated your verdict for the plaintiff upon a simple preponderance of testimony. Something more is required in this case. It is a1 suit which charges the defendant with…
1Opinion of the CourtWalton, J.
Since the decision in Thayer v. Boyle (30 Maine, 476), in which the defendant was charged with willfully and maliciously setting fire to the plaintiff’s barn, and in which it was held, that an instruction to the jury that “ they should decide upon the balance of testimony, as in other civil cases, and that the defendant was not entitled to a verdict in his favor upon merely raising a reasonable doubt, as would be the case in a criminal prosecution,” was not so favorable as the defendant had a right to require; it has been assumed, that in all civil suits in which the cause of action implies…
2Cited by13 opinions
- Lilienthal's Tobacco v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1878
- Hinds v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1959
- Horner v. FlynnSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1975
- United States v. ShapleighCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1893
- State v. NicholsSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1882
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