Weekes v. Cottingham
Supreme Court of Georgia
Husband and Wife. Torts. Pleadings. Charge of Court. Before Judge Crawford. Talbot Superior Court. September Term, 1876. Mrs. Cottingham brought trespass against Weekes for $10,000.00 damages, alleged to have resulted from the unlawful killing of her husband, James D. Cottingham. The declaration did not aver any prosecution for the criminal offense.
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Husband and Wife. Torts. Pleadings. Charge of Court. Before Judge Crawford. Talbot Superior Court. September Term, 1876. Mrs. Cottingham brought trespass against Weekes for $10,000.00 damages, alleged to have resulted from the unlawful killing of her husband, James D. Cottingham. The declaration did not aver any prosecution for the criminal offense. The defendant pleaded as follows: 1. The general issue. 2. That in the killing of said Cottingham he acted in self- defense. 3. That he had been tried for the offense of manslaughter, on account of said homicide, by the superior court of Talbot…
1Opinion of the Court
Bleckley, Judge.
1. When the action is by a widow for the homicide of her husband, the failure to allege a prosecution for the homicide as a crime is amendable; and if one of the defendant’s pleas, found in the record, admit the prosecution, there is no occasion for the plaintiff to prove it.
2. If in resisting a battery, the assailant be wilfully slain, his widow may recover damages, unless the homicide is justifiable. If it amount either to murder or voluntary manslaughter, it is a cause of action. The aggressive conduct of the deeased, and his unlawful violence, will go in mitigation of…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Louis de Saulles & Co. v. LeakeSupreme Court of Georgia · 1876
3Cited by2 opinions
- Jones v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1908
- Chattanooga, Rome & Columbus Railroad v. HugginsSupreme Court of Georgia · 1892