Barkly v. Copeland

Citations

• 86 Cal. 483
• 25 P. 1
• 1890 Cal. LEXIS 1057

Syllabus

<p>Evidence — Examination of Witness—Answering Question Too Quickly — Objection to Evidence — Striking out Answer—Exception — Waiver of Question. —The court has a right, and it is its duty, to give opposite counsel a chance to object to a question which has been answered too quickly, and to strike out the answer for such purpose; and where a witness answers a question too quickly to give an .opportunity for an objection before the answer is given, and the court, upon motion, strikes out the answer, on grounds of .objection to the question, and an exception is taken to such ruling, hut no further objection is made to the question after such ruling, the question itself remains unchallenged, and the passing of the examining counsel to another question is a waiver of the former question, and his exception to the striking out of the answer is not well taken.</p> <p>Id. — Cross-examination — Impeachment ,of Witness — Collateral Agreement to Suppress Evidence Given.—A witness may be asked, on cross-examination, for the purpose of discrediting his testimony, and laying a foundation for impeachment, whether he had not, on a previous occasion, made a collateral agreement with or proposition to another party for a consideration to suppress the very testimony given in the case. Such evidence does not fall within the rule that a witness cannot he impeached by evidence of particular wrongful acts not bearing upon the matter in issue, nor within the rule that a witness cannot be impeached in regard to a purely collateral matter.</p> <p>Id.—Impeachment on Collateral Matter — Slander—Settlement of Theft — Declarations of Third Party. —It is not permissible to impeach a witness by contradicting his statement in regard to a purely collateral matter brought out on cross-examination; and in an action for slander, committed in charging that plaintiff participated in a theft, where the convicted thief, on cross-examination by the plaintiff’s counsel, testified that he was told by a third