2 Foster 401 | Pa. | 1875
delivered the opinion of the court,
The question in the court below was upon the competency of the evidence contained in the bill of exceptions. Was Brown, the plaintiff, the same person as the man called Brown, who accompanied Simpson in his rounds while perpetrating a series of frauds upon citizens of Schuylkill county ? This was a question of fact for the jury, and might be proved by circumstances, just as in any other question of identity. The.rules of evidence are the same in criminal and civil cases when they pertain to questions which must be the same in their nature. Whether a particular man perpetrated a fraud or a crime, is an inquiry precisely the same in its nature in all cases, to wit, a natural conclusion from the facts proved. In the proof of the circumstances from which
In a question of circumstantial evidence, the proof derived from the circumstances is a question of natural presumption, and is to be found by the jury. The strength of this proof depends on the probability resulting from the facts. The presumption thus arising, being a natural one, is to be determined necessarily by the jury, and not by the court. It is the right of the party to have this submitted to the jury, unless it be so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law no probability of fact can be drawn from the combined circumstances. If in such a case as this we say that all the combined circumstances afford no evidence, we take from the party the right of trial by jury, aright of the utmost importance in a matter in which the natural instinct and judgment of men are the legal and constitutional right of a party.
Judgment affirmed.