Dodd v. Northrop
Supreme Court of Connecticut
Assumpsit, tried to the jury in the Superior Court in Litchfield County, before Phelps, J. On the trial the defendant offered the deposition of one Polly A. Cox, to the admission of which the plaintiff objected on the ground that it was taken before and drawn by William Burke, a justice of the peace, and then the law partner of Mr. Knapp, who was at that time the attorney for the defendant in the present cause and acting counsel for him on the trial; which was conceded to be…
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Assumpsit, tried to the jury in the Superior Court in Litchfield County, before Phelps, J. On the trial the defendant offered the deposition of one Polly A. Cox, to the admission of which the plaintiff objected on the ground that it was taken before and drawn by William Burke, a justice of the peace, and then the law partner of Mr. Knapp, who was at that time the attorney for the defendant in the present cause and acting counsel for him on the trial; which was conceded to be true. Upon this question the court found the facts to be, that the notice to take the deposition was drawn by Burke,…
1Opinion of the CourtCarpenter, J.
The statute provides that “ the party, his-attorney, or any person interested, shall not write, draw up, *218or dictate any deposition, <fcc.” The object of the statute is obviously to secure the utmost fairness and impartiality in the taking of depositions. In furtherance of that object the courts have ever been disposed to interpret it liberally, and to reject depositions which were taken contrary to the manifest spirit of the statute, although not strictly violating its letter. Hence it was decided in Smith v. Huntington, 1 Root, 226, under a similar statute, that the agent of a party may not…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Smith v. HuntingtonSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1790
- Allen v. RandSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1824
3Cited by5 opinions
- Yudkin v. GatesSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1891
- Sing Cheong Co. v. Yung WingSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1890
- Paulino v. Portuguese Beneficial Ass'nSupreme Court of Rhode Island · 1893
- Massachusetts Mutual Accident Ass'n v. DudleyCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1899
- Opinion No. Oag 14-78, (1978), Wisconsin Attorney General Reports1978