62 Miss. 255 | Miss. | 1884
delivered the opinion of the court.
Appellants commenced suit by attachment against T. C. Smith, a merchant of Clay County, and certain property consisting of a stock of goods levied on under the writ of attachment was claimed by J. R. Brinker, the appellee. His claim was based on a sale of the goods to him by Smith, alleged to have been made a few days before the attachment was levied. After judgment by default
The authority relied on for the admission of the evidence as to the good character of the claimant is found in 1 Greenleaf on Evidence; § 54, where, after stating that in civil cases such evidence is not admitted unless the nature of the action involves the general character of the party or goes directly to affect it, this learned and excellent author adds, “and generally, in actions of tort, wherever the defendant is charged with fraud from mere circumstances, evidence of his general good character is admissible to repel it.” Ruan v. Perry, 3 Caines 120, is cited as authority to support this text. In that case the commander of a national frigate was sued in trespass for seizing and detaining the plaintiff’s vessel and taking her out of her course, by means whereof she ivas captured by an enemy. It became an important question in'the trial to determine whether the defendant acted in honest obedience to his instructions from the navy department, or with a fraudulent intent and in collusion with the captors, as the plaintiff alleged and attempted to show by circumstances. To repel this imputation, the defendant was permitted to appeal to his good character. Ruan v. Perry was recognized as authority in Fowler v. Ætna Fire Ins. Co., 6 Cow. 675, and afterward by Chancellor Walworth in Townsend v. Graves, 3 Paige 455, 456, but it was positively condemned and overruled in Gough v. St. John, 16 Wend. 646. Gough v. St. John was an action on the case for á false and fraudulent representation as to the solvency of another. On this issue it was held that evidence of the general good character of the de
It appears from this examination that the particular part of the text of Greenleaf under consideration is not sustained by authority. The general rule, English and American, is, that if the general conduct of a party to a civil suit is put in issue, then evidence of his general character, as distinguished from proof of particular acts, is admissible, not to show that particular things were done or not done by the party, but that his general conduct was or was not as alleged. 1 Wharton’s Law of Evidence, §§ 47, 48; 1 Taylor on Evidence, § 355.
The judge whose ruling is brought in question by the appeal in this case, with better opportunities for investigation and reflection than were afforded at the trial in the lower court, concurs with his associates here, that error was committed in admitting the testimony as to the claimant’s character, for which the judgment must be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
Reversed.