22 Me. 230 | Me. | 1842
The opinion of the Court was drawn up by
— The disinclination of the members of this company of militia to avail themselves of the privileges secured to them, and to take upon themselves the duties assigned them by law, has been already exhibited to the Court in the case of Martin v. Fales, 6 Shepl. 23.
Obedience to the laws is among- the first duties of a good
The only testimony to prove, that the plaintiff in error was a member of the B company of infantry, which the defendant in error was detailed to train and discipline, was a certificate of the then Adjutant General, stating as a fact, “ that the company of local infantry in the town of Camden, designated by the Selectmen of Camden in their return of. the limits of companies in said town, and received at this office, May IT, 1836, as the first or oldest company, is designated in the records of this office as the B company of infantry.” The legal proof of that fact was a copy of the record duly authenticated. The law does not permit a recording or certifying officer to make his own statement, of what he pleases to say appears by the record. What the record itself does declare is to be made known to the Court by a duly authenticated copy of it; and upon it, and not upon what the officer may say, that it declares, does the law authorize a Court of justice to rely. The certificate in this case states the existence of a record; and yet instead of a duly authenticated copy, there is only a statement of what the officer says will appear by an inspection of it. The law requires, that the Court, before which it is produced, should inspect and decide, what it contains and proves, and not entrust that duty to a certifying officer. Such testimony