Identity
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IDENTITY, evidence. Sameness.
2. It is frequently necessary to identify persons and things. In
criminal prosecutions, and in actions for torts and on contracts, it is
required to be proved that the defendants have in criminal actions, and for
injuries, been guilty of the crime or injury charged; and in an action on a
contract, that the defendant was a party to it. Sometimes, too, a party who
has been absent, and who appears to claim an inheritance, must prove his
identity and, not unfrequently, the body of a person which has been found
dead must be identified: cases occur when the body is much disfigured, and,
at other times, there is nothing left but the skeleton. Cases of
considerable difficulty arise, in consequence of the omission to take
particular notice; 2 Stark. Car. 239 Ryan's Med. Jur. 301; and in
consequence of the great resemblance of two persons. 1 Hall's Am. Law Journ.
70; 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 509; 1 Paris, Med. Jur, 222; 3 Id. 143; Trail. Med.
Jur. 33; Fodere, Med. Leg. ch. 2, tome 1, p. 78-139.
3. In cases of larceny, trover, replevin, and the like, the things in
dispute must always be identified. Vide 4 Bl. Com. 396.
4. M. Briand, in his Manuel Complet de Medicine Legale, 4eme partie,
ch. 1, gives rules for the discovery of particular marks, which an
individual may have had, and also the true color of the hair, although it
may have been artificially colored. He also gives some rules for the purpose
of discovering, from the appearance of a skeleton, the sex, the age, and the
height of the person when living, which he illustrates by various examples.
See, generally, 6 C. & P 677; 1 C. & M. 730; 3 Tyr. 806; Shelf. on Mar. &
Div. 226; 1 Hagg. Cons. R. 189; Best on Pres. Appx. case 4; Wills on
Circums. Ev. 143, et seq.