Section 1833

Citation: Section 1833
Parent Document: Berry v. Chaplin, 74 Cal. App. 2d 652 (1946)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 1946-05-27
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2616982/berry-v-chaplin/ ↗

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Two of the physicians testified at the trial that the report truly represented their findings from the tests made. They and one other physician testified that by reason of said tests defendant was not and could not have been the father of plaintiff. The report and the evidence of the physicians were not controverted by any scientific evidence, but were before the jury to be considered with all of the other evidence in the case. According to the evidence, the so-called A and B test was discovered about 1900 and the M and N test about 1930. It may be argued that because defendant's blood was type MN and the bloods of both Miss Berry and plaintiff were type N, defendant might have been the father of plaintiff. One physician testified, "We could not have excluded him on such an incomplete test," and another, "We could not rule him out." But it appears from the evidence that the M and N test was an incomplete test and study of the bloods of the respective parties, and that the A and B test was necessary to an authentic and complete report. But the blood tests were not conclusive evidence. It was so declared in the only reported case in California in which blood tests were used for the purpose of attempting to determine the parentage of a child. (Arais v. Kalensnikoff, 10 Cal.2d 428 [74 P.2d 1043, 115 A.L.R. 163].) In that case the court held (pp. 431, 432) that the evidence concerning the blood test "is expert opinion because the conclusions reached by the examiner *665 are based upon medical research and involve questions of chemistry and biology with which a layman is entirely unfamiliar," but that such tests and the evidence thereof are not conclusive because not so declared by the code (Code Civ. Proc., 1978]; and further, that expert testimony is to be given the weight to which it appears to be justly entitled.

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