58 Iowa 199 | Iowa | 1882
It is insisted the ruling of the court is correct on the ground that when a party introduces a witness he thereby affirms he is worthy of belief, and cannot afterwards be permitted to impeach him. 1 Greenleaf Ev., § M2. At most the defendant affirmed the bills of sale were genuine, and in form, evidence of a sale by Thomas Dowdell to the plaintiff. But he did not affirm they were not made to defraud creditors. He therefore was not estopped from claiming and establishing, the latter fact. Although a party may call a witness he is not thereby estopped from proving the “truth of any particular fact by any other competent testimony in direct contradiction to what such witness has testified.” 1 Greenleaf Ev., § 443. Fliescher v. Dignon, 53 Iowa, 288; Clapp v. Peck, 55 Iowa, 270; Smith v. Ehanest, 43 Wis., 181. We think the court erred in the instructions given the jury.
Beversed.