3 Wash. 378 | Wash. | 1891
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Respondent contracted with appellants to buy a certain number of town lots in the town of Ballard,
During the trial the court permitted one Steers to testify that he had purchased town lots of defendants in the same town a few weeks prior to the purchase by plaintiff, in which purchase Steers claimed to have been defrauded in much the same way that respondent claims to have been defrauded. This testimony was admitted over the objec
“In some cases, however, evidence has been received of facts which happened before or after the principal transaction, and which had no direct or apparent connection with it; and therefore their admission might seem, at first view, to constitute an exception to this rule. But those will be found to have been cases in which the knowledge or intent of the party was a material fact, on which the evidence, apparently collateral and foreign to the main subject, had a direct bearing, and was, therefore, admitted.”
And this has been the uniform test in all well-considered cases. Where, in a criminal action, the question to be determined was whether an act was accidental or intentional, evidence is admissible to show that other acts of the same character have been intentionally done by the defendant. Thus, it has been held that where a prisoner was charged with the murder of her child by poisoning, and her defense was that the death resulted from the accidental taking of such poison, evidence was admissible to prove that two other children of the prisoner and a lodger in her house had died from the same poison. Rex v. Colton, 12 Cox, Crim. Cas. 400. So, where the guilty knowledge of the
We do not think the authorities cited by respondent sustain his contention. Jordan v. Osgood, 109 Mass. 457; 12 Am. Rep. 731, which is the leading case in Massachusetts, seems, both in its utterances and in its decision, to be squarely on the other side. There the plaintiff alleged that the defendant had obtained a bill of goods by false representations as to his solvency, and with the intention not to pay for them; and at the trial the plaintiff, over the objection of the defendant, offered testimony tending to show that the defendant had obtained goods from other parties, about the same time, under the same representations that he had made to plaintiff. That was a stronger case, so far as indicating any general scheme was concerned, than the case at bar, but the
“Wo think it is clear that, upon the issue whether the defendant made the alleged representations to the plaintiffs, the evidence admitted was incompetent; the fact that the defendant has committed a similar but distinct crime or fraud is not competent to prove that he committed the particular crime or fraud with which he is charged. . . . The cases are numerous in which this subject has been discussed. We think the true rule to bo deduced from them is that another act of fraud is admissible to prove the fraud charged only where there is evidence that the two are parts of one scheme or plan of fraud committed in pursuance of a common purpose.”
In Wiggin v. Day, 9 Gray, 97, the evidence offered was, that the defendant, at the time he purchased the wagons of plaintiff, was insolvent, and at about the time of the purchase he purchased a large amount of personal property of third parties, and got them into his hands by fraud, and then secreted them in numerous places. The court sustained this testimony; but the secreting of the goods, under the circumstances of that case, showed that the acts charged were so connected as to make it apparent that the defendant had a common purpose in all of the purchases, and that he had formed a general scheme to cheat. This was a Massachusetts case, decided prior to Jordan v. Osgood, supra, and was noticed and distinguished by the opinion in that case. Castle v. Bullard, 23 How. 172, is a case where a firm of auctioneers, or commission merchants, had obtained control of the goods of the plaintiff, and sold them to an irresponsible purchaser. It is alleged in the complaint that the firm of auctioneers had conspired with the purchaser to cheat and defraud the plaintiff. It appeared in the testimony that the defendants had represented to plaintiff that the purchaser was solvent, while in fact he
In Edwards v. Warner, 35 Conn. 517, it is held that evidence that defendant has been guilty of other like frauds is never admissible for the purpose of showing his bad character, and the greater probability on that account of his having committed the particular fraud charged. In Commonwelth v. Damon, 136 Mass. 441, the court lays down the rule that in cases in which fraud is involved it has been settled that evidence of fraudulent transactions with other persons will not be admitted upon the question of intent, unless there appears to be some connection between the fraud alleged and the other transactions from which the jury can find a purpose common to all. To the same effect is Stockwell v. Silloway, 113 Mass. 384; Haskins v. Warren, 115 Mass. 514; Horton v. Weiner, 124 Mass. 92; Commonwealth v. Jackson, 132 Mass. 16.
We think the admission of the testimony complained of was error which was prejudicial to the rights of defendants, and that they should have a new trial. The other errors alleged seem to us to be without merit, and they-are overruled.
For the errors alleged in the first assignment,.the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.
Anders, C. J., and Hoyt, Scott and Stiles, JJ., concur.