Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Rhoades

Citations

• 64 Kan. 553
• 68 P. 58
• 1902 Kan. LEXIS 241

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Evidence — Requirements of Circumstantial Evidence. So to establish, a theory by circumstantial evidence that it may be accepted as a fact proved, the known facts relied on as a basis for the theory must be of such nature and so related to one another that the only reasonable conclusion that 'may be drawn therefrom is the theory sought to be established.</p> <p>2. -Presumption of Fact Defined — Erroneous Instruction. The term, “ a presumption of fact,” has reference to a fact whose existence is established by that just land reasonable inference which common sense and experience naturally draw from another fact known to exist. It must have a fixed fact for its foundation. It cannot be based upon a presumption. Hence, an instruction in the following language: “You are further instructed that it is a presumption of fact that when a mechanical appliance fails to do the work that it is intended to do it is defective or out of repair and that when a mechanical appliance is once shown to be defective or out of repair, it is presumed to remain so, unless it is affirmatively shown that it was repaired,” is erroneous, because it bases a presumption of fact upon a presumption, and not upon an established fact.</p>