Green v. United States
| Decision Date | 01 December 1869 |
| Parties | GREEN v. UNITED STATES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
IN error to the Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
This was an action of debt brought by the United States against one Green, and the sureties on his official bond, as agent for paying pensions at Cincinnati. Seven sureties were named in the bond, all of whom executed it. The defendants charged as sureties, besides filing a joint plea of non est factum, each filed separate special pleas, first, to the effect that they signed the writing whilst the same was in blank, as to the names of the obligors, at the request of the principal, Green, upon the assurance and agreement that it should also be signed and sealed by other parties (named in the plea), as joint obligors with the defendants, and should not be delivered as a bond until signed and sealed by said persons; that those other persons never did sign the same; and that the defendants never would have executed the bond except upon the condition that they should sign it. A second plea averred that the bond was signed whilst it was in blank, as to the names of the obligors, on the conditions above-named, and being thus signed was left with Green as an escrow, to be by him delivered to the plaintiff in case it should be executed by the other persons named, and not otherwise; but that those other persons never did sign the bond, and it never was delivered as a valid bond of the defendants, and thereby became wholly annulled and vacated.
To these special pleas the plaintiff demurred, but the demurrers were overruled, to which overruling the district attorney excepted, and the exception was entered of record; and thereupon replications were filed and issue joined on the pleas. The replications denied that the bonds were signed in blank as pleaded; denied any legal subsisting agreement whereby Green was to obtain the signatures of the persons named in the pleas; and averred that the defendants delivered the bond without giving the plaintiffs any notice that it was imperfect, but on the contrary delivered it as a full and complete obligation.
Upon these issues the parties went to trial, and a verdict was found for the plaintiffs of several thousand dollars. On the trial the defendants offered one or more of their number to prove the facts set up in their special pleas; but the court rejected the witnesses, on the ground that they were parties defendant to the action, and, the government being plaintiff, could not testify. To this ruling a bill of exceptions was taken, and a writ of error brought to this court.
By the third section of the act of Congress, passed July 2d, 1864,1 it is provided that:
'In the courts of the United States, there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color, nor, in civil actions, because he is a party to, or interested in, the issue tried.'
This section was amended by an act passed March 3d, 1865,2 by the addition of the following proviso:
'Provided, that in actions by or against executors, administrators, or guardians, in which judgment may be rendered for or against them, neither party shall be allowed to testify against the other as to any transaction with, or statement by, the testator, intestate, or ward, unless called to testify thereto by the opposite party, or required to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
United States v. United Mine Workers of America Same v. Lewis, John United Mine Workers of America v. United States Lewis, John v. Same United Mine Workers of America v. Same
...457, 458, 56 L.Ed. 706. 21 United States v. California, 1936, 297 U.S. 175, 186, 56 S.Ct. 421, 425, 80 L.Ed. 567; Green v. United States, 1869, 9 Wall. 655, 658, 19 L.Ed. 806. 22 United States v. Stevenson, 1909, 215 U.S. 190, 197, 30 S.Ct. 35, 36, 54 L.Ed. 153; United States v. American Be......
-
Will v. Michigan Department of State Police
...155, 32 S.Ct. 457, 458, 56 L.Ed. 706 (1912); Lewis v. United States, 92 U.S. 618, 622, 23 L.Ed. 513 (1875); Green v. United States, 76 U.S. (9 Wall.) 655, 658, 19 L.Ed. 806 (1870). The second interpretive principle that the Court invokes comes from cases such as Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Co......
-
United States v. Lee Huen
... ... May 5, 1892 (27 Stat. 25), its criminal features. The result ... is that in all these Chinese deportation cases the defendants ... may be sworn as witnesses in their own behalf. Potter v ... Bank, 102 U.S. 163, 26 L.Ed. 111; Bradley v ... U.S., 104 U.S. 442, 26 L.Ed. 824; Green v. U.S.,9 ... Wall. 655, 19 L.Ed. 806. At their own request, ... defendants may testify in all criminal cases. In civil cases ... there is no provision of law that their failure to be sworn ... shall neither create a presumption nor permit an inference ... against them. In criminal cases ... ...
-
Board of Improvement v. School District
... ... 193; 17 Wall. 329; 12 L. R. A ... 852. These cases show that public property of the United ... States, the State, county or the city are not subject to ... local assessments. See also 17 ... held by the State's agent and used in the performance of ... its duties. Green" v. U. S., 76 U.S. 655, 9 ... Wall. 655, 19 L.Ed. 806, and authorities above cited ... \xC2" ... ...