Law v. Woodruff

Citations

• 48 Ill. 399

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence—letters—presumptions. In an action for a breach of marriage contract, where the plaintiff read in evidence letters from defendant, and lie failed to read those received by him from her, it is error for the court to instruct the jury that they should draw the strongest inferences from his which they will bear, as the law presumes they contain evidence against him, or he would have produced them or accounted for their non-production.</p> <p>2. Same. The law indulges no such presumption, and as a general rule a party can not introduce his own declarations in evidence, nor will the law indulge presumptions against his adversary if he fails to introduce them in evidence. Such letters are no more than the declarations of the party writing them.</p>