Commonwealth v. Murphy (Mass. 1817). · Go Syfert
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Commonwealth v. Murphy (Mass. 1817). Book View Copy Cite
24 citation events across 16 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: Commonwealth v. Manning (mass, 1975-05-02)
Treatment trajectory · 1904 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
1904 1965 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 2 distinct citers. How cited ↗
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Commonwealth v. Manning (2×)
Mass. · 1975 · confidence medium
In an early case we held that a witness for a defendant in a rape case could be shown to be “notoriously a common prostitute,” since she “must necessarily have greatly corrupted, if not totally lost, the moral principle.” Commonwealth v. Murphy, 14 Mass. 387, 388 (1817).
cited Cited "see" Paul v. Paul
N.J. Ct. of Ch. · 1883 · signal: see · confidence high
Va. 742 , 761; Sidelinger v. Bucklin, 64 Me. 371 ; Smitherick v. Evans, 24 Ca. 461; see Com. v. Murphy, 14 Mass. 387 ; Indianapolis R.
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
Commonwealth versus Stephen Murphy
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Oct 15, 1817.
* G. Sullivan, for the prisoner,
Cited by 2 opinions  |  Published
But the Court

overruled the objection, observing that a common prostitute must necessarily have greatly corrupted, if not totally lost, the moral principle, and of course her respect for truth and her regard to the sacredness of an oath. The credibility of a witness may therefore be properly impeached, by proving her to be of such a character.

Ex relatione Mri. Fuller, (a)

[This decision has no authority to sustain it. — Bathews vs. Galindo, 6 L. J 133, C. P. — When a witness is called to impeach the character of a former witness as to veracity,"the proper inquiry is, whether the witness called knows the character of the former witness in this regard, and whether the witness called would believe the witness whose veracity is questioned when testifying upon oath. — 1 Starkie, 2 Lond. ed. 182. — 2 Phil. & Am. 925. — Ed.]