Texas v. Chiles
Supreme Court of the United States
This was an application for an order that a subpoena issue for John Chiles, the defendant in the ease of Texas v. Chiles (a case in equity), in order that his deposition might be taken on behalf of the complainant. The proper disposition of the motion depended upon the solution of the question whether he could be required to testify by the other party.
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This was an application for an order that a subpoena issue for John Chiles, the defendant in the ease of Texas v. Chiles (a case in equity), in order that his deposition might be taken on behalf of the complainant. The proper disposition of the motion depended upon the solution of the question whether he could be required to testify by the other party. The statutory provision of Congress upon the subject, found in section 858 of the Revised Statutes, was as follows: “In the courts of the United States no witness shall be exr eluded in any action on account of color, or in any civil action…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Swayne
It was a rule in equity of long standing that the complainant could examine the defendant as a witness, upon interrogatories, and that one defendant might examine another, but they could not examine the complainant without his consent, and the right to examine a defendant wTas attended with serious restrictions and embarrassment. * A bill of discover}' was a dilatory and expensive measure. † It was also less effectual than the examination of the defendant as a witness.
In trials at law the .system of exclusion was more rigid. The general rule of the common law' was that no party to the record…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- United States v. WiltbergerSupreme Court of the United States · 1820
- Eckford v. De KayNew York Court of Chancery · 1837
3Cited by14 opinions
- American Lithographic Co. v. WerckmeisterSupreme Court of the United States · 1911
- Gottlieb v. HartmanSupreme Court of Colorado · 1876
- Wood v. WhiteCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1938
- Huntington Nat. Bank v. Huntington Distilling Co.U.S. Circuit Court for the District of West Virginia · 1907
- Lowrey v. KuswormU.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illnois · 1895
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