WITNESS.
Legal Term: WITNESS.
Definition: could not be compelled to disclose secrets which he had received in auricular confession. City Hall Rec. 80 n. Vide Confessor, Confidential Communications.
20. - 4. Jurors. A juror is not competent to prove his own or the conduct of his fellow jurors to impeach a verdict they have rendered. 5 Conn. R. 348. See Coxe, R. 166, and article Grand Jury. And a judge in a cause which is on trial before him cannot be a witness, as he cannot decide on his own competency, nor on the weight of his own testimony, compared with that of another, 2 Mart. R. N. S. 312, 1 Greenl. Ev. ,364.
21. - 5. Slaves. It is said that a slave could not be a witness at common law because of the unbounded influence his master had over him. 4 Dall. R. 145, note 1, but see 1 St. Tr. 113 Macnallys Ev. 156. By statutory provisions in the slave states, a slave is generally held incompetent in actions between white persons. See 7 Monr. R. 91, 4 Ham. R. 353, 5 Litt. R. 171, 3 Harr. &, John. 97, 1 McCord, R. 430. In New York a free black man is competent to prove facts happening while he was a slave. 1 John. R. 508, see 10 John. R. 132.
22. - 6. A party to a negotiable instrument, is not allowed to give evidence to invalidate it. 1 T. R. 300. But the rule is confined to negotiable instruments. 1 Bl. R. 365. This rule does not appear to be very firmly established in England. In the state courts of some of the United States it has been adopted, and may now be considered to be law. 2 Dall. R. 194, ld. 196, 2 Binn. R. 154, 2 Dall. R. 242, 1 Cain. R. 258, 267, 2 Johns. R. 165, Id. 258, 1 John. R. 572, 3 Mass R. 559, Id. 565, Id. 27, Id. 31, 1 Day, R. 17, 6 Pet. 51, 8 Pet. 12, 5 Greenl. 374, 1 Bailey, 479, 2 Dall. 194. But flee 16 John. 70, 8 Wend. 90, 20 John. 285. The witness may however testify to subsequent facts, not tending to show that the instrument was originally invalid. Peakes N. P. C. 6. See 2 Wash. 63, 1 Hen. &, Munf. 165, 166, 175, 1 Cranch, R. 194.
23. - ,4. When the witness has no religious principles to bind his conscience, the law rejects his testimony, but there is not such defect of religious principles, when the witness believes in the existence of a God, who will reward or punish in this world or that which is to come. Willes R. 550. Vide the article Infidel where the subject is more fully examined and Atheist, Future state.
24. - ,5. Infamy (q. v.) is a disqualification while it remains.
25. - III. As to the number of witnesses, it is a general rule that one witness is sufficient to establish a fact, but to this there are exceptions, both in civil and criminal cases.
26. - 1. In civil cases. The laws of perhaps all the states of the Union require two witnesses and some require even more, to prove the execution of a last will and testament devising lands.
27. - 2. In criminal cages, there are several instances where two witnesses at least are required. The constitution of the United States, art. 3, s. 3, provides that no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. In cases of perjury there must evidently be two witnesses, or one witness, and such circumstances as have the effect of one witness, for if there be but one witness, then there is oath against oath, and therefore uncertainty.
28. A witness may be compelled to attend court. In the first place a subpoena requiring his attendance must be served upon him personally, and on his neglect to attend, an attachment for contempt will be issued. See, generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
Legal Dictionary