Commonwealth v. Ensign

Citations

• 228 Pa. 400
• 77 A. 657
• 1910 Pa. LEXIS 496

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Evidence—Banks and banking — Schedule and books of bankrupt.</p> <p>1. Upon the trial of an indictment drawn under the Act of May 9, 1889, P. L. 145, charging the receiving of deposits by an insolvent banker, with knowledge that he is at the time insolvent, schedules filed by the defendant in involuntary bankruptcy, and testimony of an expert accountant based upon an examination of his banking books that he had turned over to the trustee in bankruptcy, are admissible against him.</p> <p>2. The provision of sec. 860 of the revised statutes of the United States, providing that no pleading or evidence in a judicial proceeding shall be used against a party “in any court of the United States in any criminal proceeding,” applies only to criminal proceedings in federal courts.</p> <p>3. The proviso in clause 9 of sec. 7 of the federal bankruptcy act of 1898, to the effect that no testimony given by a party in bankruptcy proceedings shall be offered in evidence against him in any criminal proceeding, applies only to testimony given by the bankrupt upon his examination, and not to the schedules referred to in the earlier parts of the section.</p> <p>4. In the absence of statutory regulation of the subject, testimony and written statements voluntarily given or made by a party or witness in a judicial proceeding are as admissions and confessions competent against him on the trial of any issue in a criminal case to which they are pertinent; and schedules and books offered by a bankrupt under the provisions of the federal act are to be considered as voluntarily offered.</p> <p>5. An order of reference under the seal of the United States district court and forwarded by the clerk to the referee in bankruptcy is admissible in a criminal proceeding in a state court, if there is no other objection to it except that it was a “piece of testimony growing out of the bankruptcy proceedings.”</p>