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act and made simultaneously therewith); or as constituting 
a probable cause for it (as that the accused did or did not 
have any motive, or that he did or did not make any 
preparation for doing it); or as the natural effect of it 
(as where the subsequent conduct of the accused was 
such as to be apparently influenced by his having done 
the act); or as necessary to explain or introduce it, are 
admissible. Such facts are called in legal parlance “res 
gestae. ” 
When, however, facts offered do not furnish conclusive 
proof of the facts in issue, but merely render their existence 
or nonexistence more or less probable, it is within the 
province of the judge to say whether they may be 
admitted. But the judge’s discretion in this connection 
is subject to certain established rules, by which some 
classes of facts are always excluded. 
Character, hearsay , opinion .—It is the general rule that 
character, hearsay, and opinions are irrelevant and not 
admissible, except in certain instances. 
The fact of a person’s having a good or bad character 
is not admissible in evidence as the ground for an inference 
that he did or did not do a certain thing, except that in 
criminal cases the accused may show that he has a good 
character as a fact from which the jury may infer that he 
is not guilty. When this fact of character is put in 
evidence by the accused, it may be contradicted like 
any other fact; and the prosecution may show that he 
has not a good character by proof that he has a bad one. 
The admission of this evidence in rebuttal is in accordance 
with the principle stated under “Production and Effect 
of Evidence. ” 
Hearsay is commonly held not to constitute evidence 
because (1) it has not been made under the moral obliga¬ 
tion of an oath, with the liability to criminal prosecution 
in case of falsehood; (2) the accused has had no opportunity 
of cross-examining the original witness in order to elicit 
his sources of information, as well as any facts which he 
may not care to disclose, and to test the general accuracy 
of his statements, and to show whether he has any bias; 
and (3) the original testimony has not been given in open 
