Abbott v. Clark
Supreme Court of Vermont
Assumpsit for the use and occupation of a dwelling house previous to the decease of the said Benjamin Porter. Plea, the general issue, and trial by jury, June Term, 1846, — Kellogg, J., presiding.
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Assumpsit for the use and occupation of a dwelling house previous to the decease of the said Benjamin Porter. Plea, the general issue, and trial by jury, June Term, 1846, — Kellogg, J., presiding. On trial it appeared that this action was commenced by the executor of Porter, who had subsequently deceased, and that Royal Abbott was then appointed administrator de bonis non of Porter, and that the estate of Porter was unquestionably solvent; and the plaintiff, to prove that the defendant hired the house of Porter, offered as a witness Ruth M. Abbott, the wife of the said Royal Abbott. To the…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Kellogg, J.
The relation in which Ruth M. Abbott stands to the plaintiff is such as to render her an incompetent witness, unless the plaintiff could legally have been admitted as a witness in the case. This is admitted in the argument, and we think very correctly;' for their interests are identical. The question, then, arises, is the plaintiff a competent witness?
Formérly it was regarded as a well settled principle, that a party of record could never be admitted as a witness in the suit, except by consent of the opposite party. That rule, however, has…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Johnson v. BlackmanSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1836
- Woodruff v. WestcottSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1837