Smith v. Price
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
' ERROR to the common pleas of Susquehanna county. Sylvester Smith against Warren Price. Replevin for a horse. On the trial of the cause the defendant called T. B. Smith, the son of the plaintiff, as a witness, who gave his testimony to the jury; after which the defendant offered to prove that the said T. B. Smith swore differently before arbitrators, by whom the cause had been tried. To which the plaintiff objected, but the court overruled the objection.
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' ERROR to the common pleas of Susquehanna county. Sylvester Smith against Warren Price. Replevin for a horse. On the trial of the cause the defendant called T. B. Smith, the son of the plaintiff, as a witness, who gave his testimony to the jury; after which the defendant offered to prove that the said T. B. Smith swore differently before arbitrators, by whom the cause had been tried. To which the plaintiff objected, but the court overruled the objection. The defendant then offered to prove the declarations of T. B. Smith, the witness, made at other times, and which differed from his…
1Per curiam
This was a very ingenious device; but it must not succeed. To introduce testimony formerly given by the plaintiff’s son before arbitrators, and to get his naked declarations before the jury, he was first called as a witness, and his former testimony and declarations were afterwards offered and received ostensibly to ■discredit him, but, in truth, to operate as independent evidence. And it would have been very powerful,considering the relation in which he stands to the plaintiff. But no man shall discredit his own witness. If he thought him unworthy, he ought not to have called him; and it…
2Cited by12 opinions
- Evans v. Penn Mutual Life InsuranceSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1936
- Commonwealth v. TurnerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1957
- State v. RobinsonSupreme Court of Louisiana · 1900
- Tourtelotte v. BrownColorado Court of Appeals · 1894
- Adams v. WheelerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
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