Unus Nullus Rule, The

Unus Nullus Rule, The, the rule of evidence which obtains in the Civil Law, that the testimony of one witness is equivalent to the testimony of none. See Best on Evidence, bk. 3, pt. 2, c. 10, and CORROBORATION. In our law corroboration is required in an action for breach of promise of marriage and on a summons for an affiliation order, and two witnesses are required on an indictment for treason or perjury, and for attestation of a will. The unsupported evidence of an accomplice, though legally admissible, is usually rejected by a jury under the direction of the judge [In re Meunier, (1894) 2 QB 415]; the same procedure will usually apply to the uncorroborated testimony of a party in divorce proceedings or the claimant of an estate. With these exceptions, the rule of our law is that witnesses are weighed, not counted,- 'ponderantur testes, non numerantur.'