{
  "id": 5194785,
  "name": "Oscar S. Steward v. West Chicago Street Railroad Company",
  "name_abbreviation": "Steward v. West Chicago Street Railroad",
  "decision_date": "1896-12-28",
  "docket_number": "",
  "first_page": "496",
  "last_page": "498",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "67 Ill. App. 496"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "117 Ill. 35",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill.",
      "case_ids": [
        2893760
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/ill/117/0035-01"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 234,
    "char_count": 3424,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.477,
    "pagerank": {
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      "percentile": 0.15622011167446442
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    "sha256": "61aae6fc5591f45506fc02f2f982bee4231971ff2969bb87b24af422c51081d9",
    "simhash": "1:2587a10b48e68f88",
    "word_count": 566
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T17:00:34.097112+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "Oscar S. Steward v. West Chicago Street Railroad Company."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Gary\ndelivered the opinion of the Court.\nAfter a trial ending March 26,1896, in a verdict for the appellee, and a motion for anew trial, denied April 8,1896, the appellant filed September 19,1896, under stipulation nunc pro tunc, as of June 2, 1896, a bill of exceptions, \u201c O K\u2019d\u201d by an attorney of the appellee, containing a very extr\u00e1ordinary instruction as given on behalf of the appellee. Ho blame is imputed to anybody. The mistake was made in reading from the notes of a stenographer the contents of a lost instruction.\nHovember 16, 1896, the appellee procured in the court below a substitution of other instructions, by amendment of the bill of exceptions. We do not find it necessary to give further details as to this amendment and substitution.\nThe record, as now presented amended, contains as an instruction given on request of the appellee, the following:\n\u201c If the jury believe from the evidence that any witness has willfully and deliberately testified falsely to any material fact in this case, then the jury may entirely disregard all the testimony of such witness, except in so far as it may be corroborated by other credible witnesses, or by all the circumstances and facts as shown by the evidence in this, case.\u201d\nThe action was for a personal injury, the appellant alleging that he received it by the negligence of the appellee.\nHe so testified, and was corroborated by one witness\u2014 one only.\nThey were contradicted by witnesses for the appellee.\nBefore the jury the question was upon the veracity of the \u25a0 witnesses.\nIf the jury believed from the evidence that the appellant and his witness had each \u201c willfully and deliberately testified falsely to any material fact in the case,\u201d though the facts were different and disconnected, and of minor importance, then the whole testimony of each might be by the jury entirely disregarded, although the jury might believe that in the main the testimony was true. The appellant and his witness corroborated each other, but neither of them was corroborated by witnesses, in the plural.\nAnd in no case of any variety of circumstances can any \u25a0 witness be corroborated \u201c by all the circumstances and facts as shown by the evidence.\u201d For various faults in instructions as to credibility, many judgments have been reversed. Hoge v. People, 117 Ill. 35.\nBut in no case, which we can recall, was the credibility of the witness hinged upon an impossible corroboration.\nWithout going more into detail, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Gary"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Wing, Chadbourne & Leach, attorneys for appellant; Brown & Snyder, of counsel.",
      "Egbert Jamieson and John A. Rose, attorneys for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "First District\nOctober Term, 1896.\nOscar S. Steward v. West Chicago Street Railroad Company.\n1. Evidence\u2014 When Testimony of Witness May be Disregarded.\u2014An instruction which tells the jury that if they believe any witness has willfully testified falsely as to any material fact, they may disregard his evidence entirely except in so far as it is corroborated by other credible witnesses, or by all the facts and circumstances in evidence, is bad, because it requires corroboration by more than one witness or by all the circumstances.\nTrespass on the Case, for personal injuries. Appeal from the Superior Court of Cook County; the Hon. Philip Stein, Judge, presiding.\nHeard in this court at the October term, 1896.\nReversed and remanded.\nOpinion filed December 28, 1896.\nWing, Chadbourne & Leach, attorneys for appellant; Brown & Snyder, of counsel.\nEgbert Jamieson and John A. Rose, attorneys for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0496-01",
  "first_page_order": 494,
  "last_page_order": 496
}
