50 A.2d 422 | Conn. | 1946
This is an action for divorce on the ground of adultery. Judgment was for the plaintiff and the defendant has appealed.
The finding cannot be corrected in any material respect. It states facts which reasonably support the court's conclusion that the defendant committed adultery. The only direct testimony as to these facts was given by the plaintiff, and the defendant claims that under the law of this state his testimony, disputed by the defendant, must be corroborated by other witnesses. There was, in fact, corroboratory evidence in this case, and we could decide it upon that basis alone. To do so, however, might cause uncertainty in the minds of trial judges and attorneys, and therefore we decide the question which the defendant has raised.
In Neff v. Neff,
It is sound law, in harmony with our decisions, that while corroboration should usually be required and, where there is none, a court should proceed with caution and carefully weigh the evidence, yet, if it finds a cause of divorce clearly established, the *303 fact that there is no evidence of its existence other than that of the plaintiff does not preclude a judgment dissolving the marriage, particularly where, under the circumstances, little or no corroboratory evidence is to be expected.
The defendant has assigned error in several rulings on evidence. There is but one claim that merits consideration. The defendant had testified that she was a good, loving and faithful wife. Upon cross-examination she was asked if she had received letters from a former suitor under her maiden name, after her marriage, at her mother's house. Defendant's counsel did not object. She answered "Yes" and thereupon counsel offered in evidence two letters and a birthday card which had been preserved by the defendant and were found by the plaintiff among her effects after the separation. They were offered to contradict her testimony that she had been a loving and faithful wife, and also to show her "inclination." The court admitted them, and the defendant duly excepted. If the letters had been written by the defendant it is conceivable that they could have been relevant. It would depend upon the nature of the contents. The letters in question were not written by her. The contents are entirely innocent in character, and even if they were not relevant to either of the claimed purposes the ruling could not have been harmful to the defendant. "A new trial will not be granted because of a ruling which, though erroneous, could not have harmed the appellant." Lomas Nettleton Co. v. Waterbury,
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.