Blanchard v. Sprague
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts
This was a bill in equity brought by [Thomas] Blanchard, who was a citizen of Massachusetts, against [Chandler] Sprague, who was a citizen of the same state. The bill charged the respondent with the infringement of certain patent rights owned by the complainant, and prayed for an account and for an injunction.
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This was a bill in equity brought by [Thomas] Blanchard, who was a citizen of Massachusetts, against [Chandler] Sprague, who was a citizen of the same state. The bill charged the respondent with the infringement of certain patent rights owned by the complainant, and prayed for an account and for an injunction. The pleadings and testimony disclosed the following facts: January 20th, 1820, letters-patent were issued to Blanchai’d for a machine for cutting irregular forms, such as shoe-lasts and boot-trees. Various acts of congress were passed extending the patent, by the last of which it was…
1Opinion of the Court
CLIFFORD, Circuit Justice.
By the general rules of law, the parties to a suit, being interested in the event, are not competent to testify in their own favor, and there is no law of congress relieving them from that disability. In trials at common law, the laws of the states, except where the constitution, treaties, or statutes of the United States otherwise require or provide, furnish the rules of decision in the federal courts in cases where they apply. It is expressly so provided in the thirty-fourth section of the judiciary act [1 Stat. 92], and it has been so held by the supreme court on…
2Cited by13 opinions
- Pratt v. Paris Gas Light & Coke Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1897
- Hartell v. TilghmanSupreme Court of the United States · 1879
- Albright v. TeasSupreme Court of the United States · 1883
- White v. LeeU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts · 1880
- American Paper-Bag Co. v. Van NortwickCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 1892
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