State's evidence

“ Events which have been brought to my attention happening in other parts of the country have also suggested the propriety of extending by legislation fuller protection to those who may be called as witnesses in the courts of the United States. The law compels those who are supposed to have knowledge of public offenses to attend upon our courts and grand juries and to give evidence. ”

“ It has been decided, as counsel concede, that the Legislature may make one fact prima facie evidence of another, and it is certainly within the established power of a state to prescribe the evidence which is to be received in the courts of its own government. ”

“ Where a state court fails to pass on evidence or make findings of fact because under their respective views the fact referred to are immaterial, we are not relieved from the duty of examining the evidence for the purpose of determining what facts reasonably might be and presumably would be found therefrom by the state court. ”

“ Our constitutional duty is to determine the 'case' in which the state is a party, taking care to give all who are interested in its determination a reasonable opportunity to produce evidence and to be heard in support of their rights. ”

“ In some cases to laws of the States require written evidence, in others it dispenses with it, and permits the party to prove his case by parol testimony; and what rule of evidence could the Courts of the United States adopt to decide a question of property but the rule which the Legislature of the State has prescribed? The object of the law of Congress was to make the rules of decision in the Courts of the United States the same with those of the States; taking care to preserve the rights of the United States, by the exceptions contained in the same section. ”

“ Public Utilities Commission, No. 1, supra. This Court will review the findings of fact by a state court (1) where a federal right has been denied as the result of a finding shown by the record to be without evidence to support it, and (2) where a conclusion of law as to a federal right and findings of fact are so intermingled as to make it necessary, in order to pass upon the federal question, to analyze the facts. ”

“ If, on the other hand, the authority of the State is legitimately employed in regulating these matters, then it is an open question, to be decided entirely by evidence as to what tends to the highest good of the people, whether we keep our present laws, or whether we modify them. ”

“ Such propositions, therefore, must be considered in connection with all the legal evidence exhibited in the record, and their accuracy must be tested by the true state of the facts as found by the court from the evidence, and by the rules of law applicable to that state of the case. ”

“ The evidence to be considered consists of the testimony of living witnesses, the physical changes and indications at and above the island, and the maps and books produced by the complainant. In a controversy of this nature, where State pride is more or less involved, it is hardly to be expected that the witnesses would all agree in their testimony. ”

“ Albers Commission Co., supra.
Here, the issues of fact were determined in the trial court. Counsel agree that under the state practice the Court of Civil Appeals had no authority to make findings of fact. 'Where the evidence is without conflict, it may render judgment. But where there is any conflict in the evidence upon a material issue, it has no authority to substitute its findings of fact for those of the trial court.' Post v. ”

“ Why, in nine cases out of ten, where the case is very clear to the mind of the President that the man ought to be removed, the effect cannot be produced; because it is absolutely impossible to produce the necessary evidence. ”

“ The circumstances in which crimes are ordinarily committed are such that direct evidence of their commission is usually not obtainable, and when criminality depends on a state of mind, such as intention, that state must necessarily be inferred by means of indirect evidence. ”

“ Many permit the use in state prosecutions of evidence which would be barred if tendered in federal prosecutions. [12] The tender regard which is expressed for federal-state relations will in ultimate effect be a tender regard for federal officials who flout federal law. ”

“ They then proceed to answer the bill at large upon its merits.
It is unnecessary to state the evidence in the case; because our opinion is founded upon considerations, independent of the facts which that evidence was intended to prove. ”

“ Is there anything in the Constitution which expressly makes findings of fact by a jury of inexperienced laymen, if supported by substantial evidence, conclusive, that prohibits Congress making findings of fact by a highly trained and especially qualified administrative agency likewise conclusive, provided they are supported by substantial evidence?' 11 F.Supp. ”

“ That this is the rational view of such matters is sufficiently proved by the fact that we constantly see criminals brought up from gaol itself in order to give evidence in court, and tliat their evidence is considered necessary for the purpose of enabling the court to arrive at a correct decision. ”

“ With respect to all facts, legally operative, that is, which give or take away rights, it is desirable that evidence, amounting to proof, should, if possible, always exist. With respect to a great proportion of them, it is in the power of the legislature to take measures, that evidence of them shall be collected at the moment of their happening, and shall be preserved. ”

“ One of these is that where governmental action seriously injures an individual, and the reasonableness of the action depends on fact findings, the evidence used to prove the Government's case must be disclosed to the individual so that he has an opportunity to show that it is untrue. ”

“ Before being deprived of this power, the least that they can ask is that we should be able to point to a federal constitutional provision that either by express language or by necessary implication grants us the power to fashion this novel rule of evidence to govern their criminal trials. ”

“ Obviously these issues cannot be decided without hearing evidence and determining facts. The Act vests deputy commissioners, not courts, with power 'to hear and determine all questions in respect of such claim.' 33 U.S.C. § 919 (a) , 33 U.S.C.A. § 919 (a) . And their findings of fact when supported by substantial evidence are conclusive on courts. ”

“ In any such case the court shall permit the United States to intervene and become a party for presentation of evidence (if evidence is otherwise receivable in such suit or proceeding) and argument upon the question of the constitutionality of such Act. ”

“ He argues that the evidence was undisputed, that the facts testified to and the fair inferences from them must be taken as proved, and that on those facts and inferences the constitutional question is raised. ”

“ The government is subjected to the same rules respecting the burden of proof, the quantity and character of evidence, the presumptions of law and fact, that attend the prosecution of a like action by an individual. ”

“ In passing adversely on these objections the trial court did not merely determine the weight or sufficiency of the evidence to prove a fact, but passed on the competency and legal effect of the evidence as bearing upon a question of Federal law ”

“ They therefore assume that we are not bound by the facts as found by the court below, but must give to the evidence an independent examination for the purpose of passing on the constitutional question presented for decision. ”

“ But the later decisions show that such is not the law and that on the contrary it is the duty of this Court to examine for itself whether there is any basis in the admitted facts, or in the evidence when the facts are in dispute, for a finding that the federal right has been waived. ”

“ While under that section the Administrator's regulations must be supported by findings based upon 'substantial evidence' adduced at the hearing, the Administrator's findings as to the facts if based on substantial evidence are conclusive. ”

“ Guilt in a criminal case must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and by evidence confined to that which long experience in the common-law tradition, to some extent embodied in the Constitution, has crystallized into rules of evidence consistent with that standard. ”

“ Nor can the claim of the nation be questioned simply because it is large, or because the evidence with regard to it is different from that in the case of an individual. In each case the damage must be proved by the best possible evidence, and this is all that law or reason can require. ”

“ The claims of each party ought to be, but seldom are, so presented that matters of law are, so far as possible, kept distinct from matters of fact, and what he means to prove is set forth, but not the evidence by which he hopes to establish it. ”

“ Those which assert that the supreme court of the territory refused to consider the findings made by the trial court, and this embraces the 1st, 2d, and 5th assignments. But these assignments disregard the opinion of the supreme court of the territory, delivered on the rehearing, and do not require further notice.
2. Those which question the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings of fact. ”

“ Under both systems such entries have always been esteemed the highest and most satisfactory evidence of the facts which they recite, because they are made by the direction of the law, and are of public concern, and because they are made under the sanction of an oath, or, at least, of official duty, and made at or about the time the acts which they recite transpired. ”

“ We are framing here a rule of evidence for criminal trials in the federal courts. That rule must be drawn in light not of the facts of the particular case but of the system which the particular case reflects. ”

“ The substance of their complaint—that one selected knot of men, members of one organization, were given, unlawfully, the control of the highways, to the exclusion and ruin of the people—has been sustained by the evidence taken by every official investigation, and by the decision of every court to which the facts have been submitted. ”

“ We think it clear, that by the common law as held for a long period, an exemplification of a public grant under the great seal, is admissible in evidence, as being record proof of as high a nature as the original. ”

“ The word, however, comes ultimately from the law, where it is used for the testimony, either oral or written or material, which is brought in to establish the truth of assertions about fact: evidence is set before the jury, which under the common law decides questions of fact. In almost any argument of policy, however, we use facts as reasons for or against the policy which is in question, and therefore inmost cases we must use evidence to establish these facts; in many cases, when the facts are established there is no further disagreement about the policy. ”

“ Backus, above cited, 'Whenever a question of fact is thus submitted to the determination of a special tribunal, its decision creates something more than a mere presumption of fact; and, if such determination comes into inquiry before the courts, it cannot be overthrown by evidence going only to show that the fact was otherwise than as so found and determined.' 154 U.S. 434, 435, 14 Sup. ”

“ Even where it is essential to maintain strictly the distinction between the judicial and other branches of the government, it must still be recognized that the ascertainment of facts, or the reaching of conclusions upon evidence taken in the course of a hearing of parties interested, may be entirely proper in the exercise of executive or legislative, as distinguished from judicial, powers. ”

“ In most of the states it is provided by their constitutions or by law, that the truth may be given in evidence, and if it shall appear to the jury "that the matter charged as libelous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted." ”

“ A ruling admitting evidence in a criminal trial, we recognize, has the necessary effect of legitimizing the conduct which produced the evidence, while an application of the exclusionary rule withholds the constitutional imprimatur. ”

“ To what extent the proof would fail under the standard we here hold applicable and what legal difference it might make are matters open to be dealt with on remand. We do note from the trial court's opinion that except for violence and some picketing, issues of union responsibility for acts alleged and proved were nonexistent or played little part in the thinking of the trial judge.↑ 'In civil cases (the fact finder's) duty is to weight the evidence carefully, and to find for the party in whose favor it preponderates. ”

“ The ends of criminal justice would be defeated if judgments were to be founded on a partial or speculative presentation of the facts. The very integrity of the judicial system and public confidence in the system depend on full disclosure of all the facts, within the framework of the rules of evidence. ”

“ We agree that the rule of law which requires the best evidence within the power or control of the party to be produced should not be relaxed, and that the court should be satisfied that the better evidence has not been wilfully destroyed nor voluntarily withheld. ”