Meach v. Chappell
New York Court of Chancery
This case came before the court upon exceptions to a master’s report, settling issues to be tried by a jury, and determining the .place of trial.
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This case came before the court upon exceptions to a master’s report, settling issues to be tried by a jury, and determining the .place of trial. One of the complainants, for the purpose of inducing the master to fix the place of trial at New-York, made an affidavit in which he swore, without any qualification whatever, that fifty-two persons, whose names were given, residing in the city of New-York, were all material witnesses for the complainants on the trial of the issues ; and that they could not safely proceed to trial without the testimony of each and every of those witnesses. But it…
1Opinion of the Court
The Chancellor.
The master erred in placing any reliance whatever upon the general affidavits of either party, swearing to the number of their witnesses, without stating what they expected to prove by them. It is the settled practice of this court, in an affidavit of merits, to require the party to state what such merits are ; so that the court may see that the defence is not merely imaginary. And that the defendant may be in a situation to be prosecuted for perjury, if he swears to that which he knows to be false. The same rule should be applied to affidavits of the materiality of the…
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