| Ala. | Jan 15, 1845
We are inclined to think that the interest of the sheriff was not balanced between the parties, so as to have made him a competent witness for the defendants, without a release. But that he might have been competent by a release, seems to be so firmly settled upon authority, as not to admit of serious doubt. Mr. Greenleaf, in his treatise on the Law of Evidence, (p. 472 to 4,) says, “The competency of a witness, disqualified, by interest, may always be restored by a proper release. If it consists in an interest vested in himself, he may divest himself of it by a release, or other proper con
The cases cited, all proceed upon the assumption, that a verdict and judgment in favor of the surety, will not avail the principal, as a bar to an action at the suit of the plaintiff. This being conceded, it is difficult to conceive of any objection, where all interest is removed by a release.' In the present casé, from the generality of the objection, and the ruling of the Court, the reasonable intendment is, that the release was unobjectionable in its terms. Whether it should extend so far as to annihilate all interest, or merely to balance it, (which latter result would, perhaps, be produced by renouncing the right to the costs of the action,) we need not consider.
So far as the question of interest is concerned, the sheriff was made competent by the release executed by his sureties. 'As to the particular facts which it was proposed to elicit from him, we think there is nothing in the record to show, that they were not such, as he might not with propriety narrate. It may be,
2. Some of the American cases maintain that the admissions of a principal, made at any time, are evidence against his surety. See 5 Binn. 195" court="Pa." date_filed="1812-09-09" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/meade-v-mdowell-6313650?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="6313650">5 Binn. Rep. 195; 10 Johns. Rep. 38; 2 Wash. C. C; Rep. 473; 3 Yeates’Rep. 128; 2 Bailey’s Rep. 362, 380, et post; 2 Phil. Ev. C. & Id’s. Notes, 671 to 3. But the greater number of the adjudications, perhaps, restrict the rule to cases where the declarations of the principal are acts, or parts of acts, in analogy to the admissions of agents affecting their constituents. [4 Ala. 607" court="Ala." date_filed="1843-01-15" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/townsend-v-everett-6501868?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="6501868">4 Ala. Rep. 607.] On this principle, the entries of a teller, by which he daily stated his account, as such, in a book, kept in the Bank for that purpose, were received, to show his. default in a suit against his surety. [1 Rep. Const. Ct. 404, 409.] So a jailer’s receipt for a prisoner, was held receivable . against his surety. [4 Litt. 148" court="Ky. Ct. App." date_filed="1823-10-15" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/bernard-v-commonwealth-for-lewis-7383075?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="7383075">4 Litt. Rep. 148, 151.] And the return, of a sheriff, that a Ji.fa. is satisfied, will conclude the sureties, in an action on the bond. [1 Dev. Rep, 153; 6 Ala. 248" court="Ala." date_filed="1844-01-15" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/price-v-cloud-6502162?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="6502162">6 Ala. Rep. 248.] The part payment by the principal of a promissory note, has been held to take it out of the statute of limitations, or to repel the presumptive bar arising from delay,in respect to the surety, who is jointly bound to pay it. [2 Pick. Rep. 581.] But the mere admission of the principal, after the statute has run, will not be received as evidence against the surety, to prevent its operation. [5 Binn. 195" court="Pa." date_filed="1812-09-09" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/meade-v-mdowell-6313650?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="6313650">5 Binn. Rep. 195.] So it has been held, that the acknowledgment of a sheriff, made while he was officially acting in relation to the receipt of money, forms a part of the res gestee ; but if made at a subsequent period, they are inadmissible. [2 Blackf. 289" court="Ind." date_filed="1829-11-12" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/shelby-v-governor-ex-rel-newman-7029664?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="7029664">2 Blackf. Rep. 289; Greenl. on Ev. 219, 223.]
Here, it must be observed, that Montague in his negotiation-with the sheriff, was acting as the agent of Vaughan, and the-object of the sheriff was to obtain satisfaction of the execution, and the purpose of the agent, to obtain as long time as possible
3. It is said a witness may refresh, and assist, his memory, by the use of a memorandum, written instrument, or entry in a book; and that it is not necessary that the writing should have been made by the witness himself, or that it should be an original, if, after inspecting it, he can speak to the facts from his own recollection. So where the witness recollects that he saw the paper, while the facts were fresh in his memory, and remembers that he then knew, that the particulars therein mentioned, were correctly stated. And a writing, which is in itself inadmissible evidence, may be referred to, by the witness, for the purpose of refreshing his memory. But where the . witness neither recollects the fact, nor remembers to have recognized the written statement, as true, and the writing was not made by him, his testimony, so far as it is founded upon the written paper, is but hearsay; and a witness can no more be permitted to give evidence of his inference from what a third person has written, than from what a third person has said. [Greenl. on Ev. 483; 2 Nott & McC. Rep. 334; Minor’s Rep. 397; 3 T. Rep. 752; 11 Wend. Rep. 485; 2 Phil. Ev. C. & H’s. Notes, 754 to 759 ; 3 Id. 1238-9; 3 Porter’s Rep. 430.] The copy of the receipt attached to the written statement, by Montague, is not, certainly, such evidence as should be permitted to go to the jury, yet it was allowable for the witness to inspect it, and, if he could, then testify, to the facts it discloses,from his own recollection; but if he neither recollected the facts, nor remembers to have recognized the writing as true, while the facts were fresh in his memory, then the paper is nothing more than hearsay, and is