EVIDENCE - THE USE OF CORPORATE MINUTES IN EVIDENCE

Authors

Francis T. Goheen, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

In their treatment of the principles applicable to the use of corporate minutes in evidence, the courts and the text writers have, with little or no explanation, used the language of both the parol evidence rule and the best evidence rule. Most often the question is rather summarily dismissed, and the court's opinion generally discloses very little in the way of enlightening information regarding the reasons for the exclusion or the admission and effect of the offered minutes. If general propositions are to be formulated relative to the use of corporate minutes under given conditions, such propositions must be based almost entirely on what the courts have done rather than on what the courts have said. An examination of the decisions will disclose that the admissibility and effect of corporate minutes in evidence will depend largely upon the subject matter of the particular controversy, the relations of the parties to it and inter sese, and the nature of the fact which the offering party wishes to establish by the proffered minutes. In proof of some facts the minutes "must" be introduced or their absence must be explained; the minutes "may" be introduced as evidence of other facts; and under some circumstances, though relevant, the minutes may be "entirely inadmissible."

Recommended Citation

Francis T. Goheen, EVIDENCE - THE USE OF CORPORATE MINUTES IN EVIDENCE, 36 Mich. L. Rev. 289 (1937).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol36/iss2/8