Case Name: Tousey v. Lockwood and Another
Court: Supreme Court of Indiana
Jurisdiction: Indiana
Decision Date: 1868-11
Citations: 30 Ind. 153
Docket Number: 
Parties: Tousey v. Lockwood and Another.
Judges: 
Reporter: Indiana Reports
Volume: 30
Pages: 153–154

Head Matter:
Tousey v. Lockwood and Another.
Practice. — Special Finding by the Court — A mere statement of evidence, though it be all the evidence, in a finding by the judge, cannot, answer any of the purposes of a special finding, or be a substitute for a bill of exceptions.
APPEAL from the Putnam Circuit Court.

Opinion:
Frazer, J.
The only exception in this record is to the action of the Circuit Court in overruling a motion for a new trial based upon the grounds that the finding was contrary to law and the evidence. The evidence is not in the record by a bill of exceptions, but the judge has stated some of it in the finding itself. Whether he thus has stated all the evidence does not appear. We cannot therefore reverse upon the evidence. It is not the office of a verdict to preserve the evidence, nor to contain it. It should find facts, and a finding by the judge may also state conclusions of law upon the facts found, but a mere statement of evidence, though it be all the evidence, cannot answer any of the purposes of a special finding, nor can it be a substitute for a bill of exceptions. Davis v. Franklin, 25 Ind. 407.
J. A. Matson, for appellant.
F. F. Ritter, for appellees.
The judgment is affirmed, with costs.