¶1The evidence offered by the defendant was rightly rejected as irrelevant; and the evidence that the defendant was generally known by the name stated in the indictment was clearly competent. The question whether a person is as well known by one name as another is a question of reputation, of custom and usage, and not to be determined by records, nor limited to names used in his presence. The evidence of the abbreviated or familiar names by which he was addressed was either corroborative, or immaterial, and its admission affords no ground of exception. Exceptions overruled.
77 Mass. 320
Commonwealth v. Gale
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Decided October 15, 1858
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1858-10-15
The defendant, being indicted by the name of Alfred E. Gale, pleaded in abatement that his name was Alfred Atwood Ezra Gale, by which name he had hitherto been known and called. The district attorney replied that long before and at the time of the preferring of the indictment he was and still is known as well by the name of Alfred E. Gale as by the name of Alfred Atwood Ezra Gale; upon which issue was joined.
Decided 1858-10-15