Commonwealth v. Kinison
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The defendant was indicted for having in his possession a false, forged, and counterfeit note of the Vermont state bank, with intent to pass the same as true, he well knowing the same to be false, forged, and counterfeit, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and the peace and dignity of the commonwealth.
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The defendant was indicted for having in his possession a false, forged, and counterfeit note of the Vermont state bank, with intent to pass the same as true, he well knowing the same to be false, forged, and counterfeit, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and the peace and dignity of the commonwealth. Upon the general issue pleaded, he was tried, during this term, before Sedgwick, J., and was found guilty, subject to the opinion of the Court on the question proposed in the judge’s report, which follows. “ In this case, it appeared that the bill exhibited at the…
1Opinion of the CourtParsons, C. J.
We have looked into this case, and on consideration are all of opinion that the verdict must be set aside, and a new trial granted.
It is an indispensable rule of law, that evidence of an inferior nature, which supposes evidence of a higher in existence, and which may be had, shall not be admitted.
In the present case, Pecker was an unexceptionable witness to *567prove that the defendant passed a bank note to him; but when he testified that the bank note he received had been out of his possession, and in the possession of the justice, whose testimony might have been had, it was irregular to admit…
2Cited by5 opinions
- Knoxville Nursery Co. v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1900
- State v. McAllisterSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1844
- United States v. ScottUnited States Circuit Court · 1885
- People v. SwaseyUtah Supreme Court · 1889
- Lowrance v. StateTennessee Supreme Court · 1833