M. Darragh & Co. ex rel. Darragh v. Stevenson

Citations

• 183 Pa. 397
• 39 A. 37
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 1059

Syllabus

<p>Evidence— Competency of witness — Party dead — Pelease or extinguishment of interest — Assignment of interest — Act of May 23, 1887, sec. 5, clause</p> <p>bO-</p> <p>Under clause (e), sec. 5, of the Act of May 23, 1887, P. L. 158, the disqualification of a remaining party depends not only on the fact of being a remaining party, but having an adverse interest, and under section 6 of the act even such parties may be made competent by release or extinguishment of interest in the event of suit.</p> <p>In an action against an administrator where the two plaintiffs are partners and brothers, and are both incompetent witnesses, one of the plaintiffs cannot, on the eve of the trial, by an assignment of all of his interest in the suit to the other plaintiff, render himself a competent witness. In such a case the conclusion is irresistible that the real purpose of the assignment was to evade the law, and to give the plaintiff’s claim that advantage against the dead man’s estate which the statute intended to prohibit.</p> <p>An act of a party which increases his legal rights at the expense of an-; other must affirmatively appear to have been done with other motive than to evade the law.</p> <p>Evidence — Promissory note — Signaiure—Boohs —Letter.</p> <p>In an action upon a promissory note where the only issue before the court is the genuineness of the defendants’ signature, plaintiff’s books showing a charge against defendants are inadmissible in evidence.</p> <p>In an action upon a promissory note, it is proper to exclude a letter dated nearly five years after the note in suit, and not referring to the note in any way which could be said fairly to identify it.</p>