26 Conn. 463 | Conn. | 1857
The statute regulating salaries and fees, provides that the fee of a witness shall be thirty-four cents a day for attendance, and five cents a mile for travel. This is all the remuneration he is entitled to for this service; and any attempt directly or indirectly to secure more, is against the language and policy of the law. If more is paid, it cannot be recovered back; but no greater payment can be exacted or enforced. The same rule prevails in civil and criminal trials, and is of no inconsiderable importance.
What is true of a witness is true of every officer of the government whose duties and compensation are fixed by statute; whether the executive, the judges, sheriffs, commissioners or others. Their compensation is specific, for certain official services, and in no way, covertly or openly, can more
If a witness agrees with a party, that he will attend and testify without being summoned, and he is not summoned and so not brought under the order or censure of the court, W*e suppose any reasonable promise for compensation is good
It is said that the statute fees for witnesses are inadequate and insignificant, and that the party ought to be allowed to pay his witnesses what he pleases. So he may, and more than he has agreed to pay, if it is his choice; but this does not reach an executory contract, where the witness is summoned, and paid his legal fees, and where there is no extra service rendered as in the present case.
There is a reason why witnesses’ fees should be fixed by law, and at a moderate sum, lest poor suitors should be unable to seek redress, and witnesses be tempted to lean toward wealth and power. The present rate may be too low; we think it is; but much may be said in favor of a cheap and equal administration of the law. Many years since, when I happened to be a member of the state senate, a bill was introduced to allow witnesses one dollar a day, but it met with little favor, and after considerable debate was laid on the table and ultimately lost. The present inadequate allowance is, in practice, much less objectionable than would be supposed at first thought, for parties generally find it for their interest to take good care of their witnesses. In England the party is obliged to provide for them during the trial, and the amount goes into the bill of costs. There, too, professional witnesses who are called to testify as experts, are entitled to an extra remuneration. Whether the rules of the English courts are better than ours, or whether ours need alteration, are not questions properly addressed to this tribunal.
We advise that the plaintiff’s charge of §38 for attendance as a witness be disallowed, and judgment rendered for the plaintiff for the balance.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.