Carpenter v. White
New York Supreme Court
THIS action was brought to recover damages for alleged criminal conversation between the defendant and the plaintiff’s wife, in 1864. It was tried at the Otsego circuit in June, 1865. The plaintiff first offered as a witness, generally in the cause, his wife, Adeline Carpenter, to whom the defendant objected. The judge sustained the objection, and the plaintiff’s counsel excepted.
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THIS action was brought to recover damages for alleged criminal conversation between the defendant and the plaintiff’s wife, in 1864. It was tried at the Otsego circuit in June, 1865. The plaintiff first offered as a witness, generally in the cause, his wife, Adeline Carpenter, to whom the defendant objected. The judge sustained the objection, and the plaintiff’s counsel excepted. The plaintiff next offered his wife, Adeline Carpenter, as a witness to prove the criminal intercourse with her by the defendant as alleged in the plaintiffs's complaint. To which the defendant objected. The judge…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Balcom, J.
If the plaintiff had obtained a divorce from his wife for adultery with the defendant, or for adultery with any other man, she would have been a competent witness for him to prove the criminal intercourse of the defendant with her alleged in the complaint. (Ratcliff v. Wales, 1 Hill, 63. Chamberlain v. The People, 23 N. Y. Rep. 85.) But he had not procured a divorce from her, and she was not a party to the action, and was therefore incompetent to testify as a witness to any fact in the case. She was properly rejected as a witness for the plaintiff, in accordance with…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Chamberlain v. . the PeopleNew York Court of Appeals · 1861
3Cited by3 opinions
- Lee v. HammondWisconsin Supreme Court · 1902
- Scheffler v. RobinsonMissouri Court of Appeals · 1911
- Hicks v. BradnerNew York Court of Appeals · 1868