6 Ga. App. 303 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1909
The bank sued McClure on a note made payable to one Turner and indorsed by him to the bank. The defendant claimed that the note was a forgery, and that Turner had committed the forgery. He offered to prove, in support of this contention, that the general reputation of Turner was very bad, and ■that he bore the general reputation of having been engaged in the business of committing forgeries. The court declined to allow the proof. There was a verdict for the plaintiff, and the defend.ant excepts to the overruling of his motion for a new trial.
The rule prevailing in England and in most of the American States, that evidence of character is not usually received when ■offered for the purpose of throwing light on the probability of the doing of a certain act by the person whose character is in •question, is not of force in this State. The contrary doctrine has been recognized in our jurisprudence from a very early date. The Civil Code, §5159, provides, “The general character of the parties, and especially their conduct in other transactions, are irrelevant matter, unless the nature of the action involves such character
In the case at bar the maker of the note claimed that Turner had forged his signature. Now, if Turner were a man of. good character, this fact would have made the defendant’s contention.
In this connection it may not be amiss to call attention to the fact, that the party offering evidence of character, good or bad, is confined to generalities, and can not show special instances or particular acts, though the party cross-examining has this privilege. Eor example, in the present case the defendant had the right to show by witnesses who knew Turner’s general reputation that it was bad; also that he had the reputation, not merely of having committed a single forgery, but of having made a practice of committing forgeries, or that he had the reputation of having committed many forgeries. The plaintiff on cross-examination would have had the right to test the extent of the information of the witnesses offered for this purpose, by inquiring particularly as to what they had heard. If the plaintiff in turn had offered witnesses as to Turner’s good character, either generally or particularly, in regard to forgeries, the defendant then could have cross-examined by asking the witnesses as to what had been said of him regarding particular transactions.
The court did not err in ruling out the testimony offered by the defendant to show particular acts of forgery.
Judgment reversed.