Summary

Portrait of Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter United States v. Fruehauf — Opinion of the Court

It ruled:
'I am convinced that the language which I read into the record from the Government's brief is a judicial admission that this transaction was a loan. I have no doubt in my own mind at least, that in a trial either to the court or the jury, in a preliminary hearing where the defendants have not yet subjected themselves to jeopardy, if the Government established the facts which it recounted in its brief that it intended to prove, a finding by a jury to the contrary would have to be set aside, nor could the Court find to the contrary.
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter United States v. Fruehauf — Opinion of the Court

Of course, an undertaking by counsel here, however honorable its impulse, cannot bind the Government in the future. And the District Court's ruling, insofar as it purports to close any avenues open to the Government under the indictment-not in view of specifications made in a bill of particulars or an opening statement, but on the basis of a 'judicial admission' culled from a pretrial memorandum-was impermissible and constitutes an insufficient basis to justify the exercise of this Court's jurisdiction on direct appeal.
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter United States v. Fruehauf — Opinion of the Court

Argument on the motion was had, and government counsel reiterated his position:
'The Court: Assuming that this case was tried and the Court was disposed to frame special interrogatories to the jury, and one of those interrogatories was, Was the transaction a loan, and the jury brought back the answer No: do you think the Court could allow that answer to stand on the basis of the facts as you have set them forth in your brief, or wouldn't the Court have to set aside the finding as being contrary to the evidence and the weight of the evidence?
Source: Wikisource

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