57 Wis. 251 | Wis. | 1883
Had the witness not been the plaintiff there can be no doubt that both questions and the offer were properly rejected as not being proper cross examination, for the reason that the witness had not been examined in chief on those subjects. True, he had testified to a conversation with the defendant Van Valhenburgh, and the defendants were entitled to the whole of that conversation; but the first question (besides being immaterial) is general and not directed to that conversation. The other question and the' offer call for purely defensive testimony on subjects concerning which the witness had not testified. The second question related to plaintiff’s employment after he was discharged, and, if material at all, it was so because the answer might have tended to show that the plaintiff earned, or could have earned, more than he admits in the complaint This is matter of defense (Barker v. Ins. Co., 24 Wis., 630) as is also the alleged incompetency of the plaintiff. We do not think the admission in the complaint of the amount earned after his discharge can operate to change the burden of proof on that subject to the plaintiff, or affect the rules governing his cross examination as a witness. Probably the fact that the witness was a party to the action would justify the court in its discretion in allowing a broader range of cross examination than would be allowed were the witness not a party. Knapp v. Schneider, 24 Wis., 70. Rut that is not a right of the adverse party, and ordinarily the rules of cross examina
The jury were further instructed that, finding the contract of hiring to be as claimed by the plaintiff, it was the duty
By the Court. — The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.