Peak v. People

Citations

• 76 Ill. 289

Syllabus

<p>1. Writ or error—to county court, in case of bastardy. Under the new constitution, the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction in all cases except where it has original jurisdiction, and art. 6, sec. 19, of the constitution, provides that, “appeals and writs of error shall be allowed from final determinations of county courts, as may be provided by law.” The statute having provided no appeal or writ of error from the judgment of the county court, in bastardy proceedings, to the circuit court, it follows that such judgments may be reviewed by this court on writ of error to the county court, to prevent a failure of justice.</p> <p>2. Evidence—instruction as to the preponderance. On the trial of one for bastardy, the court instructed the jury that, “it is not incumbent upon the people to show, by a clear preponderance of evidence, that the defendant, etc., is the father of the child charged tobe his in the complaint; but it is sufficient if the evidence creates probabilities in favor of that opinion, and that the weight of evidence inclines to that side of the question:” Held, that the instruction was erroneous, and calculated to mislead the jury to understand that they might find for the prosecution, though it might not be clear that the testimony preponderated on that side.</p> <p>3. Bastardy—degree of proof required. While it may be true that, in a prosecution for bastardy, the evidence need not, as in criminal cases, be of such sufficiency as to generate full belief of the fact, to the exclusion of all reasonable doubt, yet it must be sufficient in degree to produce in the minds of the jury a belief of the truth of the charge. It is error to instruct the jury that it is sufficient if it creates mere probabilities in favor of that opinion.</p> <p>4. Same—instruction as to the credibility of a witness. An instruction that the maxim, “false in one statement, false in all,” should be applied in cases where a witness .wilfully and knowingly gives false testimony; an