Goodwin v. Jack
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On exceptions. Trespass quare clausum for breaking and entering the plaintiff’s close in Topsham and cutting down a tree. The real purpose of the suit was to determine thé location of the plaintiff’s line between himself and Mr. Joseph L. Jack, father of the defendants, who admitted the cutting and justified it as done by the direction of said Joseph, as the owner of the premises.
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On exceptions. Trespass quare clausum for breaking and entering the plaintiff’s close in Topsham and cutting down a tree. The real purpose of the suit was to determine thé location of the plaintiff’s line between himself and Mr. Joseph L. Jack, father of the defendants, who admitted the cutting and justified it as done by the direction of said Joseph, as the owner of the premises. To establish his title, Mr. Goodwin offered the old records of the Pejepscot proprietors, and the copy of a plan of the township made by John Merrill in 1768, the facts relative to which are fully stated in the…
1Opinion of the CourtDickerson, J.
The first error alleged in the bill of exceptions is the admission by the presiding justice of certain ancient books entitled “Pejepscot Records.”
Courts have felt obliged from necessity to depart from the strict rules of evidence in the admission of ancient writings, documents, books and records, to prove the existence of the facts they recite. The rule of evidence requiring the testimony of the lawful custodian of books of record offered in evidence, that they are of the description claimed, before they are admissible, has repeatedly been relaxed in the case of ancient books of record of…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Pitts v. TempleMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1807
3Cited by3 opinions
- Dickinson v. SmithWisconsin Supreme Court · 1907
- Lohr v. WolfeWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1913
- White v. Peoples Railway Co.Superior Court of Delaware · 1907