44 Wis. 93 | Wis. | 1878
Without regard to the other errors assigned, we think the judgment must be reversed because the court refused to allow the question to the witness Allen to be answered. It is certainly clear that it was competent for the witness to state the facts and circumstances under which he
It is, however, said by the plaintiffs’ counsel, in justification of the ruling of the court below, that it had been claimed in the opening of the defendants’ counsel on the trial, that the witness had received these notes as a gift from his father the night before he died, and that the question had relation to that matter’, and was therefore excluded. "While we do not doubt that the learned counsel states the facts precisely as they occurred, yet there is nothing in the bill of exceptions to sustain his statement. Of course, we must determine the correctness of the ruling from the record itself. If the witness had been asked to state the facts and circumstances under which he had obtained possession of the notes from his father, whether they were not given him by his father the night before he died, a different question would be presented for consideration. But, as the record now stands, the question asked does not seem to be open to objection, and it might have called
The judgment of the circuit court must therefore be reversed, and a new trial awarded.
By the Gov/rt. — So ordered.