An ESSAY on the PRINCIPLES of CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, Illustrated by Numerous Cases
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com A N E S S A Y ON THE PRINCIPLES OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, 3Jllugtratûù bp Jßumerotig Cageg. BY WILLIAM WILLS, Esq. Nulla denique est causa, in qua id, quod in judicium venit, ex reorum per sonis, non generum ipsorum universa disputatione quæratur.—Cic. De Oratore. THIRD EDITION. LONDON ; HENRY BUTTERWORTH, 7, FLEET STREET, 3Ìafm 33udí£cIIcr anù 38ubIigbcr. HODGES AND SMITH, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN. 1850. BIBLIOTHECA REGIA MONACENSIS. N PRINTED BY RICHARD AND JOHN E. TAYLOR, RED Lion court, FLEET STREET. PR E FA C E TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE most important doctrines of Circumstantial Evidence have been so ably treated in the learned works of Mr. Bentham and Mr. Starkie, that an apology may be thought necessary for this publication. It will however be per ceived, that the design of the following Essay is different in some important particulars from that of either of the above-mentioned authors; and that an attempt has been made to illustrate the subject by the application of many instructive cases, some of which have been compiled from original documents, and others from publications not easily accessible. It has not always been practicable to support the state ment of cases by reference to books of recognised authority, or of an equal degree of credit; but discrimination has uniformly been exercised in the adoption of such state ments; and they have generally been verified by compa rison with contemporaneous and independent accounts. A like discretion has been exercised in the rejection of some generally received cases of circumstantial evidence, the authenticity of which does not appear to be sufficiently established. It is to be regretted that, with the exception of the State Trials, there is no authoritative collection of English cases of controverted fact, for which nevertheless there are extant abundant materials. Isolated and anomalous as such cases may appear to be, they, like every other part of the great system of jurisprudence, are reducible to consistent and iv. PREFACE. immutable principles of reason and natural justice. There has existed hitherto little inducement to any such compi lation, since, (however pertinent and instructive such cases might be,) by an unreasonable rule of legal procedure they were shut out from practical application. It is probable that, as the consequence of recent legislative changes, cases of circumstantial evidence will hereafter be treated with an amplitude of argument and illustration, both as to fact and principle, which will give them an increased value, and offer inducements to the satisfactory record of such cases for the purposes both of practical use and liberal curiosity. In the course of my experience and reading, my atten tion has frequently been drawn to the consideration of the leading principles of circumstantial evidence. The matter which presented itself upon this favourite subject of study, and the thoughts which it suggested, it was my practice to preserve; and thus, without any view to publication, materials gradually and insensibly accumulated, which at length I have endeavoured to methodize and arrange in the present volume. Notwithstanding the originality of some of those materials, and the novelty of their arrange ment and combination, it is probable that few of the gene ralizations and reflections advanced in this Essay can be considered as strictly original. The labour of composing these pages has nevertheless been an agreeable and useful employment, in the brief intervals of leisure from other pursuits; and though I am not insensible to their defi ciencies, I am also not without the hope that they may be in some degree serviceable to others. At any rate this Essay will be considerately received by those who rightly estimate the importance of the subject, and the difficulties of such an attempt. W. W. Edgbaston, near Birmingham, February, 1838. PR E FA C E TO THE THIRD EDITION. THE favourable reception which this Essay has met with has induced me again to commit it to the press. I have incorporated with the text of the present edition the more recent cases of circumstantial evidence, in some of which the leading doctrines applicable to that department of moral and legal science have been declared with a clear ness, precision and completeness which are not to be found in connection with the earlier cases. Those parts of the Work which relate to the subject of presumptions have been considerably enlarged, and other portions of it have been wholly re-written. I avail myself of this opportunity of recording my obli gations to that profound jurist and upright magistrate, the late Chancellor Kent, to whose estimate of this Essay I have been indebted for its re-publication in the United States of America. Nor can I quit my subject without expressing my admi ration of the simplicity and harmony of our English system and rules of evidence, and of their incomparable superi ority to those of all other nations which have adopted or modified the doctrines and practice of the Civil Law, so unworthy of the general excellence of that imperishable monument of human wisdom; a superiority for which we are mainly indebted to the uncompromising resistance made by our forefathers to every attempt to substitute the intangible subtleties and impracticable formulae of the Roman jurisprudence for the plain and intelligible principles of our own Common Law. W. W. Edgbaston, February 1850. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EVIDENCE IN GENERAL. Sect. 1.—Nature of Evidence .................................... 2.—Various kinds of Evidence ........................... 3.—Nature of the Assurance produced by different kinds of Evidence .................................... CHAPTER II. CIRCU MSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Sect. 1.—Essential Characteristics of Circumstantial Evi dence................................................... 15 2–Presumptions .......................................... 17 3.—Relative value of Direct and Circumstantial Evi dence ................................................... 26 4.—Sources and Classification of Circumstantial Evi dentiary Facts ....................................... 33 CHAPTER III. IN CULPATORY MORAL INDICATIONS. Sect. 1.—Motives. • - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 37 2.—Declarations of Intention.......... 45 3.—Preparations for the Commission of Crime......... 46 4.—Recent Possession of the Fruits of Crime ......... 5.—Unexplained Appearances of Suspicion, and at tempts to account for them by false representa tions ................................................... 57 6.—Indirect Confessional Evidence ..................... 60 7.—The Suppression, Destruction, Fabrication and Simulation of Evidence.............................. 72 8.—Statutory Presumptions .......................... 84 viii * CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. EXTRINSIC AND MECHANICAL IN CULPATORY INDICA TIONS. Page Sect. 1–Identification of Person .............................. 90 2.—Identification of Articles of Property ............... 104 3.—Proof of Hand-writing................................. 108 4.—Verification of Time and Dates ..................... 114 CHAPTER V. EXCULPATORY PRESUMPTIONS AND CIRCU M STAN TIAL EVIDENCE.................................... 120 CHAPTER VI. RULES OF INDUCTION APPLICABLE TO CIRCUM STANTIAL EVIDENCE............................. 135 CHAPTER VII. PRO OF OF THE CORPUS DE LICTI. Sect. 1.-General Doctrine as to the Proof of the Corpus Delicti ................................................ 156 2.—Proof of the Corpus Delicti by Circumstantial Evidence ......... ............. 158 3.—Application of the doctrine to cases of Homicide. 162 4.—Application of the general principle to proof of the Corpus Delicti in cases of Poisoning ......... 178 5.—Application of the general principle to the proof of the Corpus Delicti in cases of Infanticide. ... 203 CHAPTER VIII. FORCE AND EFFECT OF CIRCU MSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Sect. 1.-General grounds of the Force of Circumstantial Evidence ............................................. 209 2.—Considerations which augment the Force of Cir cumstantial Evidence in particular cases......... 213 3.—Cases Illustrative of the Force of Circumstantial Evidence ............................................. 225 4.-Conclusion ............................................. 245 TABLE OF CASES CITED IN THIS WORK. CIVIL CASES. A Griffits v. Ivery, 109, 111. Allport v. Meek, 109. Gurney v. Langlands, 110. Armorie v. Delamirie, 72. Ashford v. Thornton, 145. H. Hughes v. Rogers, 111. B. Banbury Peerage, 32. J. Bromage v. Rice, 109. Jayne v. Price, 128. C. L. Chambers v. the Queen's Proctor. Lawton v. Sweeney, 73. 224. Clumes v. Pezzey, 73. M. Constable v. Steibel, 110. Mortimer v. Craddock, 72. Craig v. Earl of Anglesea, 73. Mossam v. Ivy, 115. Crisp v. Walpole, 114. R. D. Robson v. Rocke, 112, 114. Doe d. Day v. Day, 94. Doe d. Mudd c. Suckermore, 109, Rutledge v. Carruthers, 94. 110, 111. S Doe d. Perry v. Newton, 109. Smith v. Earl Ferrers, 118, 219. Douglas case, 94. Solita v. Yarrow, 109. E. T. Eagleton v. Kingston, 112. Tracy Peerage, 73, 110. F. W. Fitzwalter Peerage, 110. Waddington v. Cousins, 109. G Y. Goodtitle v. Revett, 110. Young v. Brown, 110. Griffith v. Williams, 109. Young v. Horner, 111. x TABLE OF CASES. CRIMINAL CASES. C. Adams, 49. Carroll, 43. Alcorn, 180. Carsewell, 112, Alexander, l 13. Carter, 107. Alman, 84. Castaing, 180. Angus, 204. Cator, 110.