Van Horn v. Van Horn

Appeal by defendant from a judgment, awarding plaintiff an interlocutory decree of divorce, and from an order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial.

The complaint alleges that the appellant committed adultery with one Adolph Knopf, and prays for a judgment of divorce, and that the whole of the community property and the custody of the two minor children be awarded to the respondent. During the pendency of the action one of the children reached majority. The action was tried, and an interlocutory decree was entered awarding respondent a divorce and the custody of the remaining minor child. Thq question of the property rights was reserved.

Among the assigned errors was the action of the trial court in refusing to permit appellant to introduce evidence of the good character of herself and the corespondent. The general rule is that in civil actions, evidence of character of neither party thereto is admissible. (5 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, pp. 861, 862; 1 Wigmore on Evidence, sec. 64.) There are exceptions to this rule. In actions for slander and libel, character is necessarily put in issue, as injury to character is the gist of such actions. (5 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, p. 865.)…