Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/13

 THE AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA. EVESHAM T71YESHAM, a parliamentary borough and mar- Pj ket town of Worcestershire, England, nearly encircled by the Avon, 13 m. S. E. of Worcester ; pop. about 5,000. It is well built, and contains three churches, a mechanics' in- stitute, reading rooms, and a library. The re- maining tower of the once famous abbey of Evesham is one of the finest architectural spe- cimens of the time of Henry VIII. The chief occupation is gardening, but gloves, hosiery, and parchment are manufactured, and there is an active trade in malt and hops. EVIDENCE. Judicial evidence differs from the proofs by which human judgment is or- dinarily determined in non-judicial matters, chiefly in certain rules established for the sake of facility in disposing of complicated questions of fact, or on grounds of public policy. These rules may be reduced under the following heads : 1, cases in which a rule is prescribed for the purpose of getting at a certain conclu- sion, though arbitrary, when the subject is in- trinsically liable to doubt from the remoteness, discrepancy, or actual defect of proofs ; 2, cases in which evidence is excluded on the ground of being untrustworthy and tending to un- necessary prolixity, or from its very nature likely to be untrue ; 3, cases in which a legal presumption is substituted for actual proof, or in place of what could be proved, being sup- posed to be more consistent with the real rights of the parties than any result which could be expected from positive testimony ; 4, the grad- uation of the weight of evidence, which will be found in some instances to be arbitrary in its origin, and perhaps not altogether in ac- cordance with the ordinary process of judg- ment. Under the first class will be included various rules which have been adopted, not from exact uniformity per se, but for the sake of having some rule of general application, among which may be specified the following : a. That after seven years' absence without EVIDENCE having been heard from, a man shall be pre- sumed to be dead. It is obvious in this case that the period fixed upon is no more certain than any other, but it was necessary, for the protection of the rights of parties who were compelled to act upon some presumption, that a legal rule should be established. If a man therefore has been absent seven years with- out anything being heard of him, his wife may marry again without incurring a penalty for bigamy, though it has not been provided that the second marriage shall be absolutely valid in case the husband should afterward return ; and his heir, or the person entitled to his es- tate by succession, becomes vested with pre- sumptive ownership, the same as if his decease was actually proved. 5. That after the ex- clusive possession of land or of an incorporeal hereditament for a certain period of time, a grant shall be presumed, and the title of the occupant will be sustained against all claimants. In England this period was formerly express- ed with some vagueness, as being beyond the memory of man, and the rule applied there only to incorporeal estates ; but by a statute (2 and 3 William IV.) the period has been limited to 20 years in cases of aquatic rights, ways, and other easements, and to 30 years in respect to right of common and other uses arising out of lands, except tithes and rents. In the United States the presumption is gen- erally the same both in respect to corporeal and incorporeal estates. In a large number of the states 20 years' exclusive, undisturbed, and uninterrupted possession, under claim of right, is sufficient to establish title to lands or ease- ments. In some states a shorter period is pre- scribed, either generally or for particular classes of cases, as for example those in which the claim of right is under purchase at a tax or ju- dicial sale. c. That deeds more than 30 years old may be used as evidence without proof of their execution; in other words, that they