falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus

/folsas in yiiwnow, folsas in omnabas/

False in one thing, false in everything. Dawson v. Bertolini, 70 R.I. 325, 38 A.2d 765, 768.

The doctrine means that if testimony of a witness on a material issue is willfully false and given with an intention to deceive, jury may disregard all the witness' testimony. Hargrave v. Stockloss, 127 N.J.L. 262, 21 A.2d 820, 823.

The maxim deals only with weight of evidence. It does not relieve jury from passing on credibility of the whole testimony of a false swearing witness or excuse jury from weighing the whole testimony. State v. Willard, 346 Mo. 773, 142 S.W.2d 1046, 1052.

It is a mere rule of evidence affirming a rebuttable presumption of fact, under which the jury must consider all the evidence of the witness, other than that which is found to be false, and it is their duty to give effect to so much of it, if any, as is relieved from the presumption against it and found to be true. It is not a rule of the law of evidence, but is merely an aid in weighing and sifting of evidence. Dawson v. Bertolini, 70 R.I. 325, 38 A.2d 765, 768.

It is particularly applied to the testimony of a witness who, if he is shown to have sworn falsely in one detail, may be considered unworthy of belief as to all the rest of his evidence