Commonwealth v. Mellet

Citations

• 27 Pa. Super. 41
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1

Syllabus

<p>Evidence — Incompetent evidence — Rendered competent — Appeals—Review— Oleomargarine.</p> <p>The admission of incompetent evidence will not be grounds for reversal where it is afterwards rendered competent by the introduction of other evidence.</p> <p>Where on the trial of an indictment for selling oleomargarine colored to look like yellow butter, a sample of white oleomargarine and a sample of creamery butter are admitted for the purpose of comparison, but without any evidence as to the genuineness of the samples, the judgment against the defendant will not be reversed for that reason, if it appears that an expert witness subsequently testified that the samples were what they were alleged to be.</p> <p>Criminal law — Oleomargarine—Cotton-seed oil — Evidence.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for selling oleomargarine colored to look like yellow butter where the evidence shows that the color was due to cotton-seed oil, it is proper to sustain an objection to the following question asked upon cross-examination of a witness: ‘'‘And cotton-seed oil, as an ingredient, is recognized as a legitimate ingredient, is it not?” Such a question is not tantamount to asking a witness whether it is an essential ingredient, or one commonly used, but involves for its complete answer a construction of the statute which it is not within the province of the witness to give.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for selling oleomargarine colored yellow to resemble butter, if it is competent for the defendant to prove that cottonseed oil is, in a commercial sense, a necessary constituent of oleomargarine, it is equally competent for the commonwealth to introduce the explanatory proof in rebuttal that the necessary result of the use of cotton seed is not to give the product in which it is used the color of yellow butter.</p> <p>Trial — Evidence—Charge—Testimony stricken out.</p> <p>A trial judge cannot be convicted of giving an instruction based on testimony that had been stricken ou