119 Ga. 308 | Ga. | 1904
David McCollum was convicted of unlawfully selling intoxicating liquor to a minor, one John D. Ayers. A new trial having been refused, the accused excepted. Upon the trial; in September, 1903, Ayers testified that he was nineteen years old in the summer of that year; that he purchased the liquor from the accused in the early part of the year 1902, before the bill of indictment was found, in March of that year. He further swore that all he knew about his age was what his mother told him, and that she was then living in the county where the trial was had. Counsel for the accused moved to rule out the testimony of Ayers as to his age, upon the ground that his mother, who knew the fact and was living in the county, was a competent witness, and what she had told her son in reference to his age was hearsay and inadmissible. The court refused to rule out the testimony, and' complaint was made of this ruling, in the motion for a new trial. The ruling of the court was not erroneous. It is well settled that a witness may testify as to his own age. Central Railroad v. Coggin, 73 Ga. 689; 1 Gr. Ev. § 430 (k); Underhill’s Crim. Ev. § 342; 22 Am. & Eng. Ene. L. 647; 1 Ene. Ev. 735. In Bain v. State, 61 Ala. 75, it was held: “A witness may testify as to his own age, though he states that his knowledge is derived from what his mother told him.; and the fact that his mother, who is not shown to be dead, or out of the jurisdiction of the court, was not introduced, does not affect the admissibility of the evidence, though the jury may consider it, with the other circumstances of the case, in determining its credibility.” It was held in Cherry v. State, 68 Ala. 29, that “ A person may testify to his own age; and his testimony is not rendered inadmissible by his further statements, given as reasons for his testimony as to the fact, ‘ that his mother told him so, that it was written down in a book which his father had in the court-house.’ ” And in Pearce v. Kyzer, 16 Lea (Tenn.), 521, it was held: “ A defendant in a suit, who relies upon the defense of infancy, is a competent witness to prove his own age, and it is no objection to his testimony that he obtained the information as to the year of his birth from his mother, who is living in the county in which the suit is tried.” In State v. Cain, 9 W. Va. 559, it was held that it was competent for a witness to
Judgment affirmed.