Miller v. Trustees of the Mariner's Church
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
This was an action of assumpsit brought under a special resolve of the legislature, passed M.arch 5, 1829, for the price of a quantity of hammered stone ; the defendants having leave to claim in offset the amount of damages occasioned by any breach of the contract. At the trial, before Weston J. the defendants offered Mr. Cutter¿ one of the trustees, as a witness.
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This was an action of assumpsit brought under a special resolve of the legislature, passed M.arch 5, 1829, for the price of a quantity of hammered stone ; the defendants having leave to claim in offset the amount of damages occasioned by any breach of the contract. At the trial, before Weston J. the defendants offered Mr. Cutter¿ one of the trustees, as a witness. The counsel for the plaintiff proposed, with a view to show his interest in the cause, to ask him if he was not responsible as surety for the deféndants for the payment of money which they owed. Before this question was answered,…
1Opinion of the Court
Weston J.
The first witness, offered by the defendants, was . admitted as competent, notwithstanding the interest attempted to be *54shown by the parol testimony objected to by them. The interest is nothing more, than every surety has in the solvency and ability of his principal; or a creditor in that of his debtor. It is an interest going to his credibility. But the fact from which it arises, like every other fact proved in the trial of a cause, should not be made out from testimony liable to legal objection. And if the parol testimony received to prove the interest of the witness was of this…
2Cited by15 opinions
- Warren v. StoddartSupreme Court of the United States · 1882
- Lawrence v. PorterCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1894
- Reid v. WhisenantSupreme Court of Georgia · 1926
- Yellow Poplar Lumber Co. v. ChapmanCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1896
- Hartford Deposit Co. v. CalkinsIllinois Supreme Court · 1900
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