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5 Mass. 320

Brown v. Brown

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1809-05-15

<p>If a particeps criminis be used as a witness to prove adultery upon the trial of a libel for a divorce, the Court will advise that he be prosecuted for the offence.</p>

Cited in Bouvier (1839)’s definition of “Condonation”

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1809-05-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently August 1971

9 state decisions

30180918101820183018401850186018701880189019001910192019301940195019601970decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1The Court said they would not refuse to swear him, and added that if it appeared from his testimony that he was the paramour, they should recommend to the solicitor-general to lay the case before the grand jury, in order that an indictment might be found against him.

¶2The counsel for the libellant suggested, that he proposed that the witness should testify that he knew the respondent to have committed the crime, without naming the other party. But the Court said they should inquire of him, with whom it was committed. Upon this, the libellant declined calling the witness, and the libel was continued fat further evidence.

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