85 P. 506 | Or. | 1906
delivered the opinion.
"When one or more witnesses affirm the existence of fraud, and an equal number denies its existence and there is nothing to show that one is more creditable than the other, the fraud is not established, and if you find that state of facts from the evidence that has been adduced before you, plaintiff has failed to make out the better case, and your verdict should be for the defendant.”
As an academic statement of the law this instruction may be correct under some circumstances, but it is not pertinent in this ease. The existence of fraud here is not to be determined from the number of witnesses, but from the entire testimony and the surrounding circumstances. Where fraud is an issue, it is generally to be ascertained from all the testimony and such inferences as may be legitimately drawn from it: Williamson v. North Pac. Lum. Co., 42 Or. 153 (70 Pac. 387, 532). It is seldom that it can be established by the direct and positive testimony of witnesses. It is a question for the jury, who are the judges of the credibility of the fitnesses, the weight of their testimony, and the inferences to be drawn from the circumstances attending the particular transaction.
The judgment is affirmed. Aeeirmed.