self-serving document
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 275 U.S. 120 - Leach & Co. v. Peirson · 1927Most cited · 118 citing opinions
A man cannot make evidence for himself by writing a letter containing the statements that he wishes to prove. He does not make the letter evidence by sending it to the party against whom he wishes to prove the facts. He no more can impose a duty to answer a charge than he can impose a duty to pay by sending goods. Therefore a failure to answer such adverse assertions in the absence of further circumstances making an answer requisite or natural has no effect as an admission.
How often courts cite the case defining “self-serving document”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “self-serving document” — 118 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.