Davis v. Crockett

Citations

• 88 Md. 249
• 41 A. 66
• 1898 Md. LEXIS 189

Syllabus

<p>Pleading in Equity— When Answer is Evidence for Defendant — Answer responsive to Interrogatories in Bill —Matters set up by Way of Avoidance — Proof of Allegations in Bill.</p> <p>Code, Art. 16, sec. 146, provides that it shall not be necessary for the defendant in an equity cause to make oath to his answer unless required by the plaintiff, nor shall any answer, whether sworn to or not, be evidence against the plaintiff at the hearing, unless read as evidence against the defendant. Code, Art. 16, sec. 147, provides that if the plaintiff shall only require an answer under oath to specified interrogatories, the answer of the defendant though under oath, except such part as shall be directly responsive to such interrogatories, shall not be evidence in his favor unless the cause be set down for hearing on bill and answer only. Held, that under these provisions when an answer is required by the bill to be under oath it will only be evidence against the plaintiff if read by him at the hearing, and that when not required to be under oath, it will, if under oath, be evidence for the defendant when the case is heard on bill and answer alone. But whether the answer be treated as evidence or not, it will, when denying the allegations of the bill, force the plaintiff to prove those allegations.</p> <p>Under Code, Art. 16, sec. 147, the answer of the defendant under oath to the interrogatories propounded by the bill, when responsive thereto, is evidence in defendant’s favor.</p> <p>Matters set up in the answer by way of avoidance of a liability once admitted are not responsive and must be proved; but the mere fact that the averments of an answer are affirmative and not strictly negative in their character, does not determine the question whether they are averments of new matter in defence by way of avoidance, or strictly responsive averments. A bill by some of the distributees of an estate against the administrator and F. alleged that the • administrator had omitted from the