Sparks v. Dawson

Citations

• 47 Tex. 138

Syllabus

<p>1. Charge of court—Fraud—Evidence.—Plaintiff brought suit for the rescission of a trade made with defendant, in which he conveyed to defendant a tract of land, for a stock of cattle; he alleged that he had been deceived by the fraudulent representations of defendant, and specified facts, which, if true, constituted the fraud charged; among others, that the defendant did not have the number and quality of cattle which he represented himself to be the owner of, and which he sold to plaintiff. On the trial, the court gave the following charge: “Before you can find for plaintiff, he must satisfy your minds, beyond a reasonable and well-founded doubt, that the defendant did not have the number and quality' of cattle upon the range that the defendant sold him. It devolves on the plaintiff to make the proof to satisfy your minds that the defendant did not have the stock that he represented and sold to plaintiff; and not until the plaintiff shows conclusively by evidence that the defendant deceived and defrauded him, can the defendant be called • upon to introduce any evidence at all:” Reid, The rule of evidence, announced in the charge, was erroneous, not applicable to this or any other civil cause, and was calculated to mislead the jury.</p> <p>2. CHARGE of court—Fraud.—The following charge was asked : “A preponderance of testimony is all that is required in civil causes; and while fraud cannot be presumed, it is proven as any other fact Reid—</p> <p>1. The expression so often used in the argument, and in charges and otherwise, “fraud cannot be presumed, but must be proved,” should never be contained in a charge given to a jury, brcause it is riot true without a qualification, which a jury is not capable of supplying.</p> <p>2. The facts which are alleged as constituting fraud require no other or different proof to establish them than that which is necessary to constitute a cause of action or defense in any other civil cause; nor is there anything in them which should