Pillow v. Bushnell
New York Supreme Court
This was an action brought by husband and wife, for an assault and battery on the wife, tried at the Columbia circuit, before Justice Cady, in October, 1848. The plaintiffs, some time after their marriage, had joined the society of Shakers, at New Lebanon. The husband abandoned the society, and afterwards, in August, 1847, went back to New Lebanon for the purpose of taking away his wife.
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This was an action brought by husband and wife, for an assault and battery on the wife, tried at the Columbia circuit, before Justice Cady, in October, 1848. The plaintiffs, some time after their marriage, had joined the society of Shakers, at New Lebanon. The husband abandoned the society, and afterwards, in August, 1847, went back to New Lebanon for the purpose of taking away his wife. She was unwilling to leave, and the assault and battery charged was that the defendants had rescued the wife from the husband when he had her by the arm taking her out of the house. The defence was that in…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Parker, J.
The first question to be considered is, whether the wife was a competent witness against the plaintiffs. At common law, husband and wife are excluded from giving evidence for or against each other. They cannot be witnesses for each other, because of the identity of interest; nor against each other, on a principle of public policy which deems it necessary to guard the security and confidence of private life, even at the risk of an occasional failure of justice. (1 Phil. Ev. Cowen & Hill’s Notes, 147, note 142. Greenl. Ev. §§ 334, 353.) Lord Coke says “■ a wife cannot be…
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- Williams v. PeopleNew York Supreme Court · 1865
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