# Aldrich v. Brown

> New York Supreme Court · May 15, 1834 · 11 N.Y. 596

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/5476968

## Case

- **Full name:** Aldrich v. Brown
- **Court:** New York Supreme Court
- **Decided:** May 15, 1834
- **Citations:** 11 N.Y. 596
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court by Nelson
- **Judges:** Nelson
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/5476968

## Opinion text

By the Court,
Nelson, J.
The words being laid as spoken in reference to the testimony of the plaintiff upon a particular occasion, the plaintiff was bound to prove them as laid, and was not at liberty to give evidence of a gene *598 ral charge of perjury ; for if permitted to-do so, he might take the defendant by *surprise, who was bound to answer only to the charge contained in the declaration. What is said by Mr. Starkie in his treatise on evidence, in reference to a precise local description of an injury sustained by the diversion of a water course, is very applicable to this case : “ The precise description (he says) identifies the injury, and so far ascertains its nature and extent, as to distinguish it completely from an injury of the same kind committed in a different situation.” Starkie’s Ev. part 4, page 351. See also idem, page 861. Besides, upon a general charge of perjury, the defendant might have justified by showing the plaintiff to have been guilty of the crime at any time previous to the speaking of the words ; but by the specific charge set forth in the declaration, he was confined in his defence to that particular instance. 2 Chitty’s Pl. 257, 260, 361.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/5476968. Public record. Not legal advice.