Bradshaw v. Combs

Citations

• 102 Ill. 428
• 1882 Ill. LEXIS 50

Syllabus

<p>1. Witness—competency in suit against administrator. The principal in a promissory note is a competent witness in a suit in equity by the surety against the administrator of the payee, to enjoin the collection of the note, on behalf of the surety, to prove a valid contract by the payee extending the time of payment to the principal without the consent of the surety.</p> <p>2. In chancery, any defendant was always competent to testify in behalf of a co-defendant on any question in the decision of which he had no interest, and the passage of the act of 1867, abolishing the disqualifications of witnesses, has in no manner impaired that rale. The qualifications to the general rule therein stated are mere limitations upon the effect of that act in rendering a witness competent in cases wherein he had been before incompetent. It does not-render any witness incompetent when, in the absence of ■ the statute, he was and had been competent.</p> <p>3. Evidence—parol—to add to written contract. An indorsement upon a note, “it is agreed by the parties to this note that the interest shall be at the rate of ten per cent until paid,” and signed by the principal maker, does not render parol evidence incompetent to prove that when the indorsement was made and signed, it was agreed between the principal and the agent of the payee that the time of payment should be extended one year, and that the promise to pay ten per cent interest, instead of eight, was the consideration for the agreement to give the extension. When only a part of a contract is reduced to writing, and the part so reduced to writing is merely a partial execution of a part of an entire agreement, the whole agreement may be proven.</p> <p>4. Same—leading questions—when proper. In the case of a reluctant or unwilling witness, the law does not require a s’trict and literal adherence to the general rule forbidding leading questions to a party's own witness.</p> <p>5. Remedy—of surety for release for extension of time to