"
In the same discussion, the Chief-Baron (Parker) cited cases in which
_all_ the rules of evidence had given way. "There is not a more general
rule," says he, "than that hearsay cannot be admitted, nor husband and
wife as witnesses against each other; and yet it is _notorious_ that
from necessity they have been allowed,--not an _absolute_ necessity, but
a _moral_ one."
It is further remarkable, in this judicial argument, that exceptions are
allowed not only to rules of evidence, but that the rules of evidence
themselves are not altogether the same, where the subject-matter varies.
The Judges have, to facilitate justice, and to favor commerce, even
adopted the rules of _foreign_ laws. They have taken for granted, and
would not suffer to be questioned, the regularity and justice of the
proceedings of foreign courts; and they have admitted them as evidence,
not only of the fact of the decision, but of the right as to its
legality. "Where there are foreign parties interested, and in commercial
matters, the rules of evidence are not quite the same as in other
instances in courts of justice: the case of Hue and Cry, Brownlow, 47. A
feme covert is not a lawful witness against her husband, except in cases
of treason, but has been admitted in civil cases.
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