86 Mo. App. 216 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1900
Mary 0. Fleming, Administratrix of the estate of Alfred W. Fleming, deceased, on July 14, 1898, filed in tbe Probate Court of St. Louis County, an application for citation to Charles Green, under section 74, Revised Stautes 1899, alleging that she had good cause to believe and did believe that said Green had in his possession and control, and had concealed and was wrongfully withholding goods, chattels, money, books, papers and evidences of debt belonging to the estate of Alfred W. Fleming, deceased, which she as administratrix was entitled to, aggregating over three hundred thousand dollars. A citation was
In Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547, it was ruled, that “a witness could not be compelled to disclose the circumstances of his offense, the source from which, or the means by which, evidence of its commission, or his connection with it, may be obained, or made effectual for his conviction.”
Greenle'af in his work on Evidence states the rule thus: “When the answer will have a tendency to expose the witness to a penal liability, or to any kind of punishment, or to a criminal charge, the witness is not bound to answer” (Vol. 1, sec. 451), approvingly cited in State v. Talbot, 73 Mo. 357.
The provision of the Constitution quoted in the Simmons Hardware case is for the protection of personal liberty and has always received a liberal construction at the hands of both the Federal and State courts. And these courts have invariably — when brought before them — held as unconstitutional, statutes passed in aid of the enforcement of revenue laws, election laws, the Interstate Commerce Law,
The petitioner is entitled to his discharge for another and further cause. The parties appeared before the commissioner on the day and at the time and place named in the order of the court making the appointment of the commissioner, and the taking of depositions was continued from day to day and from time to time thereafter by consent of parties, until the fifth day of November, 1900, on which latter day it is admitted the commissioner, on his own motion and without
It is therefore considered that the petitioner, Charles Green, be released and discharged from the custody of the sheriff of the city of St. Louis, and the said sheriff is hereby commanded to discharge him forthwith. It is further ordered that Charles Green, the petitioner, be taxed with the costs of this proceeding.