Pros And Cons Of Res Gestae

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EVIDENCE-RES GESTAE.-In a prosecution for rape, the defendant's appli
cation for new trial was based on an offer to show that prosecutrix's mother,
not present at trial, would testify that on coming home twenty or thirty min
utes after the alleged assault she at once closely questioned her daughter as
to the acts of the defendant toward her and prosecutrix denied that defendant
made any assault. Held, such testimony was not merely impeaching, but part
of the res gestae. Anderson v. State (Tex. I923) 255 S. W. 625.
It is said that the doctrine of res gestae is a harmful rule in the law of
evidence "because by its ambiguity it invites the confusion of one rule with an
other and thus creates uncertainty as to the limitations of both." 3 …show more content…

In
Norris v. Interurban Street R. Co., 90 N. Y. S. 460, where immediately after
an accident the motorman said "Let's go, Bill, I couldn't help it, I lost con
trol", the statement was held inadmissible as res gestae. Obviously, the prin
cipal case in admitting on the theory of res gestae, statements made twenty or
thirty minutes after the transaction was completed, though consistent with the
views of many courts, shows a misapplication of the rule. The testimony
offered finds more basis for admission under the principle of spontaneous ex
clamations, but even that claim would be weakened since the words uttered
were in answer to the "close questioning" of the prosecutrix's mother. See
Guild v. Pringle, 64 C. C. A. 621; Chicago West Div. R. Co. v. Becker, 128
Ill. 545; Chapman v. Express Co., 192 Mich. 654. If the objection of the
critics to the existence of the res gestae principle is to be overcome, it would
seem the courts must give more genral recognition to the basic principle
underlying the doctrine.
EVIDENCE-TESTIMONY AS TO UNCOMMUNICATED INTENT.-Defendant …show more content…

Held, such testimony was not merely impeaching, but part
of the res gestae. Anderson v. State (Tex. I923) 255 S. W. 625.
It is said that the doctrine of res gestae is a harmful rule in the law of
evidence "because by its ambiguity it invites the confusion of one rule with an
other and thus creates uncertainty as to the limitations of both." 3 WIGMORE
ON EVIDENCE, ed. 2, ?I767. But there exist certain fundamental rules regard
ing this doctrine, which if applied by the courts would tend considerably to
eliminate the present state of confusion. The term' res gestae, says Professor
Thayer "imported simply a fact, a transaction, an event". 15 AM. L. REV. I, 6.
The utterance must serve to give legal significance to equivocal conduct in

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