Court Opinion

ID: 9752202
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 17:43:47.231799+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:09.290292
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Me. Justice Cohen:
In Hurtt v. Stirone, 416 Pa. 493, 206 A. 2d 624 (1965), I dissented to the majority’s development of a common law rule of evidence that when a criminal conviction is introduced into a civil proceeding it conclusively proves in the civil proceeding facts which must necessarily have been established in the criminal proceeding, even though there is no substantial identity of parties. The rule set forth in Stirone is diametrically opposed to Zubrod v. Kuhn, 357 Pa. 200, 53 A. 2d 604 (1947), where a criminal conviction of assault and battery was held inadmissible in an action to recover civil damages for the same assault and battery; and it is far more extreme than the rule of a growing minority of courts that the conviction is admissible as some evidence of the facts established by it when introduced in a civil proceeding to prove the same facts. The rule of conclusiveness in Stirone is unjust because it unduly emphasizes the policy of diminishing litigation. It does not sufficiently take into account the fallibility of juries, advocates and judges involved in any proceeding. Further, only the criminal is bound by the “truth” established in the criminal proceeding; I do not understand the majority here or in Stirone to suggest that an acquittal in the criminal proceeding conclusively establishes the facts upon which it is based when introduced in a civil proceeding not involving the same parties. In other words, with respect to its effect on future separate causes of actions *330between different parties, tbe criminal proceeding is a one-way street against the interests of tbe defendant; any error in finding tbe “truth” is conclusive in tbe future only if tbe “truth” is adverse to tbe defendant.
But, regardless, of tbe correctness of Stir one, that case is not applicable here. In this case we are not dealing with Pennsylvania’s common law rules of evidence but, instead, with a statutory provision which regulates use of certain specified items of evidence in a proceeding to determine tbe right of inheritance— a subject entirely regulated by statute. Tbe Slayer’s Act of 1941 provides that “[n]o slayer shall in any way acquire any property or receive any benefit as tbe result of tbe death of tbe decedent. . . ,”1 It defines a “slayer” as one “who participates, either as a principal or as an accessory before the fact, in tbe wilful and unlawful killing of any- other person”.2 Section 14 of tbe Act provides: “Tbe record of bis conviction of having participated in tbe wilful and unlawful killing of tbe decedent shall be admissible in evidence against a claimant of property in any civil action arising under this act.” (Emphasis supplied.)
It is plain that tbe Legislature did not say tbe conviction was conclusive. It said it was evidence. Nor did tbe author of this provision believe that, under it, tbe record would be conclusive; and bis views were well known. Wade, Acquisition of Property By Wilfully Killing Another — A Statutory Solution, 49 Harv. L. Rev. 715, 750 (1936). Nor have Pennsylvania commentators thought that, under this provision, tbe con-' viction was conclusive. See 17 Pitt. L. Rev. 494, 498 (1956); 46 Dick. L. Rev. 99, 101 (1941).
Besides ignoring tbe obvious import of the language, tbe majority recites tbe legislative history but *331fails to perceive its impact upon the task of interpreting the statutory provision which controls this case. Up to the time of the enactment of the Slayer’s Act of 1941, the Intestate Act of 1917 had provided that a person “who shall be finally adjudged guilty of murder” of the decedent could not inherit from him; and in Tarlo’s Estate, 315 Pa. 321, 172 Atl. 139 (1934), we held that this provision meant that if the claimant had not been criminally convicted of the crime he could not be barred from inheriting. Obviously, therefore, under the 1917 statute the only way to prove that the claimant was barred as a slayer was to introduce his conviction into Orphans’ Court. The common law, at the time when the 1941 Act was passed, provided that a criminal conviction was inadmissible in civil proceedings for purposes of proving facts established in the criminal proceeding. Zubrod v. Kuhn, supra. The Slayer’s Act of 1941 was designed to change the rule of Tarlo’s Estate, permitting the fact of the claimant’s involvement in decedent’s death to be established in Orphans’ Court for purposes of determining his right to inherit, rather than requiring a criminal conviction. The question remained regarding the weight to be given to a prior criminal conviction where one existed. Confronted with two clear alternatives of making it conclusive, as under the 1917 Act, or inadmissible as under the common law, the Legislature chose a third alternative in §14, to make it merely “admissible in evidenceThus, it codified the rule that the conviction is admissible but not conclusive on the question of whether one is a slayer for purposes of inheriting; and the ultimate fact is to be determined in orphans’ court.
The majority’s view that §14 is silent on the weight to be attributed to the conviction ignores the language and the history of the section and frustrates the legislative purpose to make the orphans’ court the fact finding tribunal for purposes of inheritance, rather *332than the criminal courts as was true under the 1917 Act. Moreover, in relying on common law cases rather than solely on the statute, the majority assumes unto the courts the regulation of the right to inherit — a matter that had always been thought to be strictly within the province of the Legislature. Carpenter’s Appeal, 170 Pa. 203, 32 Atl. 637 (1895); Tarlo’s Estate, supra. In those cases we strictly applied the statutory law leaving it to the Legislature to change that law if it so desired. We should do the same here.
I dissent.
Mr. Justice MuSmanno joins in this dissenting opinion.

Act of August 5, 1941, P. L. 816, §2, 20 P.S. §3442.

 Id., §K1).