Beckley v. Freeman
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Assumpsit for goods sold. At the trial in the Court of Common Pleas, before Strong J., the defendant called Silas Freeman as a witness. The plaintiff objected to him, because he had given to the officer who served the writ, an accountable receipt for the property attached, and the property had been returned to the defendant; and it was therefore contended by the plaintiff, that the witness was interested in the event of the suit.
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Assumpsit for goods sold. At the trial in the Court of Common Pleas, before Strong J., the defendant called Silas Freeman as a witness. The plaintiff objected to him, because he had given to the officer who served the writ, an accountable receipt for the property attached, and the property had been returned to the defendant; and it was therefore contended by the plaintiff, that the witness was interested in the event of the suit. In answer to this, it was proved by the defendant, that the sum of $115, being the amount at which the property was valued in the receipt, was deposited in the hands…
1Opinion of the Court
Putnam J.
delivered the opinion of the Court. We consider that it is the settled law of this State, that a receipter of property may be a witness, on having a sufficient sum of money put into his hands as an indemnity.Allen v. Hawks, 13 Pick. 79. Indeed the Court of Common Pleas applied the rule in the case at bar and ruled, that a receipter who had property put into his hands to the value mentioned in the receipt, was a competent witness.
The principle which governs the case of a receipter applies to the case of an indorser of a writ prior to the St. 1833, c. 50. For the indorser was…
2Cited by1 opinion
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