Samuel Freeman Miller

“ When a party seeks to justify in a court of review the admission of such ex parte declarations of himself or his vendor, against the objection of the other side, he must show by the record some circumstance which would obviate the manifest soundness of the objection. ”

“ All these cases, however, have reference to the case of an instrument which has been admitted in evidence on other and sufficient ground, and where the true date has become important on some other issue than the admission of the letter. It is a most vicious example of reasoning in a circle, to admit the letter to prove the time when it was written, and assume this to be the real date for the purpose of admitting the letter.
Another objection is, that there is nothing in the record to show that the letter was delivered to Hamilton Smith, or was ever in his possession or acted upon by him. ”

“ Cray, [1] that while it is a sound principle that no judgment should be reversed on error when the error complained of worked no injury to the party against whom the ruling was made, it must appear so clear as to be beyond doubt that the error did not and could not have prejudiced the right of the party. ”