Thomas v. Graves
Thomas v. Graves
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Although a Jury are generally the proper judges of facts, and therefore the Court will npt nicely weigh the testimony in reviewing their verdicts, yet it would have no hesitation in setting aside a verdict against uncontradicted and sufficient evidence. But I think that is not the case here ; the evidence was to establish a usage. To establish a usage, it ought to be proved to be so general, uniform, and frequent, as to warrant an inference that the party against whom the right is claimed had a knowledge of it, and contracted with reference to it. (Whitaker’s Law of Carriers, 31. Rushforth v. Hadfield, 6 East, 519; Smith and Stanley, v. J. and I. Wright, 1 Caines’ Rep. 45.) It will rarely happen that one witness will sufficiently establish a usage. In this case the testimony of the witness seems to have been very general, and therefore not very satisfactory. It Wlll generally be desirable, when a particular ^ usage is relied upon, to establish it by the testimony of several witnesses; and if it be a well established usage, as it ought to be, this will not
I am therefore of opinion the motion should be refused, and that is the unanimous opinion of the Court.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.