Cottingham v. Weeks

• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: McCAY
• Citation: Cottingham v. Weeks, 54 Ga. 275 (Ga. 1875)
• Decision Date: 31 January 1875
• Parties: Caroline Cottingham, plaintiff in error. v. William J. Weeks, defendant in error.

54 Ga. 275

Caroline Cottingham, plaintiff in error. v. William J. Weeks, defendant in error.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

(Atlanta, January Term, 1875.)

Tort. Husband and wife. Evidence. Before Judge James Johnson. Talbot Superior Court. September Term, 1874. A report of this case is unnecessary.

H. L. Benning; W. A. Little, by M. J. Crawford, for plaintiff in error.

Blandford & Garrard; E. H. Worrell, for defendant.

McCAY, Judge.

We have looked carefully into the authorities for cases or principles to sustain the right to introduce this judgment in the criminal case as evidence in the civil one. It is not between the same parties; different rules, as to the competency of witnesses and as to the weight of evidence necessary to the finding, exist. Besides, the present plaintiff was in no sense a party; she had no part nor lot in it; she could not even examine or cross-examine a witness. Suffice it that there is, so far as we can find, no case to be found to sustain the introduction. The case in 23 Georgia, 193, stands on a different footing. There, the question was whether the defendant had not already been punished, and the fact that a fine had been imposed was...