23 Kan. 338 | Kan. | 1880
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Upon the trial of this case, the state rested without proving or offering to prove the existence of the Atchison & Nebraska railroad company as a corporation, and thereupon the defendant interposed his demurrer to the evidence. After some argument, the county attorney asked leave to call a witness to prove the existence of the corporation by reputation,
“If, on trial or other proceeding in a criminal cause, the existence,, constitution, or powers of any banking company or corporation shall become material, or be in any way drawn in question, it shall not be necessary to produce a certified copy of the charter or act of incorporation, but the same may be proved by general reputation, or by the printed statute book of the state, government, or country by which such corporation was created.”
It is claimed that this section authorizes proof by general reputation, only when a banking company or a banking corporation is brought in question, and that as the corporation in occupation of the building burglariously entered was a railway co'rporation, its legal existence could only have been been proved by the best evidence, viz.: its charter or act of incorporation, or a duly-certified copy thereof. We do not agree with counsel. Sec. 214 is only cumulative, and it is immaterial whether it applies to banking corporations exclusively, or to corporations generally. The evidence excepted to was both competent and admissible, as the authorities are decisive that in criminal cases, independent of any statutory rule favoring the proposition, the existence of a corporation may be proved by general reputation. A de facto existence of the corporation is only necessary to be shown. In People v. Caryl, 3 Park. (N. Y.) Cr. 326, it was held .that on the trial of an indictment for stealing foreign bank bills, that it was not necessary to produce the highest evidence of
The judgment of the district court will be affirmed.