City of Roslyn v. Pavlinovich

Citations

• 112 Wash. 306
• 192 P. 885
• 1920 Wash. LEXIS 744

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations (336)—Violation of Health Ordinance —Complaint-—Sufficiency. A complaint charging that defendant violated an ordinance providing that it “shall be unlawful for any person to refuse, fail or neglect to comply with any legal order of the health officer,” by alleging that he “did wilfully and unlawfully refuse, fail and neglect to comply with the legal order of the health officer ... in that he permitted people to congregate at his place of business and play cards,” is sufficient to charge a misdemeanor.</p> <p>Evidence (79)—Best and Secondary Evidence—Proof of Effort to Secure Primary Evidence. Oral testimony of the contents of a written instrument is not admissible upon mere proof that the writing had been sent to a party in another city and that an attempt had been made to secure it for the trial, but that it had not been returned; since a reasonable effort to secure the writing was not shown.</p> <p>Same (79)—-Contents of Letter—Admissibility. It was error to allow witness to testify to the contents of a letter which he said he had received but did not have with him, but was in his office, since the letter itself was the best evidence of its contents, and no sufficient excuse was shown for failure to produce it in court.</p>