13 Iowa 89 | Iowa | 1862
— A slander case, in which the plaintiff prevailed and the defendant seeks a reversal of the judgment against him, upon several grounds of alleged error.
The first demanding attention is, that his wife, Margaret, was not permitted to testify in his behalf. Section 3983 of
It seems scarcely necessary to allude to a kindred question made a distinct ground of error, namely, the incompetency of the husband to testify to the declaration of the wife. Besides the objection upon the score of hearsay and
II. Against the objections of the defendant, the plaintiff on trial was permitted to show the condition of the defendant in point of property and pecuniary circumstances. It is still insisted that the objection was well taken. But to do so, in order to aggravate damages and also to allow the defendant to show his limited means, to mitigate damages, has been a rule of practice so frequently established and followed by the courts that we have no disposition to change it. Experience has not shown the propriety of abolishing such rules upon the ground that they are liable to abuse. It is always in the power of the court, in its instructions to the jury, to guárd them against an improper use of such evidence, as we think was very fairly done by the court in its charge to the jury in this case. 20 Ill., 115; 4 Duer, 247 ; 6 Conn., 24; 8 Mass., 546.
III. The court refused the first, fifth, eighth and eleventh instructions asked by the defense, to which exceptions were made. The first of these instructions is as follows:
“If from the evidence the jury believe that the plaintiff told the defendant she had got the money from her mother, and that if her mother did not say so, she (plaintiff) would give up the money to him, then it is no slander for the defendant to see her mother, tell her what had occurred, and ask her if she had let the plaintiff have the money.”
The objection to this instruction is its vagueness. "What is meant by the words, “ tell her what had occurred f ’ The evidence shows that quite a good many things had occurred before the defendant had his interview with the mother of the plaintiff. He had among other things accused her of
The fifth and eighth instructions refused may be included substantially in tbe following proposition: “That if tbe defendant honestly believed that tbe plaintiff bad taken tbe money, that this was a circumstance which tbe jury might consider in judging of tbe motive, and determining tbe case, even under tbe plea of justification.” The object of these instructions was to give to tbe defendant the benefit of tbe fact stated, (if it existed,) as a mitigating circumstance which in law should reduce tbe amount of tbe damages. Conceding this to be tbe right of tbe defendant, yet, if tbe court bad in bis main charge to tbe jury given substantially these instructions, be was not bound to repeat them in different language at tbe instance of defendant’s counsel. Indeed, tbe court below discussed in bis charge to tbe jury tbe very proposition contained in these instructions, quite at length. Among other things, the court said: “The words ‘ mitigating circumstances sufficient in law to reduce tbe amount of damages,’ are not to be construed as meaning mitigating circumstances legally admissible in evidence, for if so it would leave the law as it was before, so far as tbe admission of mitigating circumstances are concerned; but it must be considered as referring to such circumstances
■ So, also, with reference to the eleventh instruction. It was substantially covered by the tenth, which had just been given. This makes it unnecessary to re-state the instruction, and to suggest some additional reasons why it could be properly refused.
A motion for a new trial was overruled, founded upon the foregoing assigned errors, and for the additional reason that the verdict was contrary to the evidence.
• It is confessed that the evidence to our minds is not very satisfactory, yet it does not fall within the familiar rule, which we have repeatedly established for disturbing the judgment below for such a cause.
We are not satisfied, in the condition of the record, that the defendant has been prejudiced by the rulings of the court below, or that a different result would likely be reached by granting a new trial, and therefore the judgment is
Affirmed.