Gt. W. Turnpike Co. v. . Loomis
New York Court of Appeals
The actiou was for the recovery of toll by the turnpike company, against the defendant, who repeatedly passed the plaintiff’s toll-gate, and refused to pay the rates prescribed by law. The plaintiff recovered.
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The actiou was for the recovery of toll by the turnpike company, against the defendant, who repeatedly passed the plaintiff’s toll-gate, and refused to pay the rates prescribed by law. The plaintiff recovered. The judgment was reversed, on the ground that the defendant was not permitted, on the cross-examination of the principal witness, to put questions irrelevant to the issue, but tending to degrade the witness; the avowed purpose of the inquiries being to show that he was unworthy of credit. The questions were excluded as irrelevant, on the objection of the plaintiff, without any claim of…
1Opinion of the CourtPorter, J.
If the judgment of the court below be upheld by the sanction of this tribunal, it will embody in our system of jurisprudence a rule fraught with infinite mischief. It will subject every witness who, in obedience to the mandate of the law, enters a court of justice to testify on an ’issue in which he has no concern, to irresponsible accusation and inquisition in respect to every transaction of his life, affecting his honor as a man or his character as a citizen.
It has heretofore been understood that the range of irrelevant inquiry, for the purpose of degrading a witness, was subject to the…
2Cases cited8 opinions
- People v. MatherNew York Supreme Court · 1830
- People v. AbbotNew York Supreme Court · 1838
- People v. RectorNew York Supreme Court · 1838
- People v. BodineCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors · 1845
- Howard v. City Fire InsuranceNew York Supreme Court · 1847
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3Cited by76 opinions
- Alford v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1931
- Wallace v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1899
- People v. . WebsterNew York Court of Appeals · 1893
- Nelson v. SeilerCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1927
- Burgess v. StateCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1931
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