Rounsaville v. Albin
Rounsaville v. Albin
Opinion of the Court
Under the pleadings and evidence in this ease (which is an action to recover damages for a violent assault) the court did not err in charging as follows: “You may look further to the evidence, and see under what circumstances the defendant cut and stabbed Mr. Albin, if he did cut and stab him, and was not justifiable in cutting and stabbing him.” The clause, “and was not justifiable in cutting and stabbing him,” considered in the light of its setting, is not subject to the criticism that it was an expression of opinion of the court, in contravention of § 1058 of the Penal Code of 1910.
2. Where, in such a case, the defense set up was that the plaintiff himself provoked the assault by cursing and abusing the defendant and by assaulting him with a deadly weapon, and that the alleged stabbing was in self-defense, and where the court correctly instructed the jury as to the legal effect of opprobrious words and abusive language and of a simple assault, it was not, for any reason assigned, erroneous to add: “I charge you that if the plaintiff, Albin, was making a deadly assault, with a weapon in its nature likely to produce death, upon the defendant, Mr. Rounsaville, then Mr. Rounsaville would have a right to use such means to extricate himself from such assault, provided it was made with a deadly weapon. That is a question for your determination; and if Mr. Albin was making an assault on Rounsaville with a deadly
3. The verdict was authorized by that part of the evidence which was favorable to the plaintiff and accepted by the jury as the truth of the case.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.