Smalley v. Ellet

Citations

• 36 Ill. 500

Syllabus

<p>1. Purchasers op personal property, must submit to an outstanding equity, if known. Where a party purchases personal property with a knowledge of an outstanding equity in another, he will be held to have purchased subject to such equity.</p> <p>2. Incompetency op witness—not so because he is defendant to the bill. The mere fact that a witness is one of the defendants to a bill in chancery, does not render him incompetent. The inquiry is, whether he is swearing to promote his own interests.</p> <p>3. Same—-not incompetent if he has no interest adverse to the parly calling him. A defendant in chancery may be made a witness against his co-defendants, and if he has no interest adverse to the party against whom he is called, he is not incompetent.</p> <p>4. Nor is it an objection that he has an interest in the event of the suit, unless his interest be against the party whose interest is sought to be prejudiced by his testimony.</p> <p>6. And even when the witness has an interest in favor of the party calling him, he may still be competent, if it appears he has an equal interest on the other side.</p>