Citation Numbers: 34 Me. 45
Judges: Wells
Filed Date: 7/1/1852
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 9/24/2021
The question in this case is, whether the re-ceiptor for the property attached, who was released by the deputy sheriff that made the attachment, was a competent witness for the defendant. Ordinarily such a release would remove the interest, which the witness would have in favor of the defendant. But the receipt had been approved by the plaintiff’s attorney and accepted by him, and it was produced in Court by him in the presence of the witness, who must have been informed by the proceedings in Court of the claim of the plaintiff to the receipt before he received the release.
The attorney, as such, had authority to approve of the receipt. Jenney v. Delesdernier, 20 Maine, 183, The placing of such receipt in the hands of the creditor’s attorney, to be prosecuted for his benefit, is an equitable assignment of the contract. Clark v. Clough, 3 Greenl. 357. The receipt
The assignment of the receipt made it the property of the plaintiff, and the officer could not discharge it, nor could he release the receiptor, who appears to have had full knowledge of the assignment before he received the release. The re-ceiptor, therefore, was interested to defeat the action, and was not a competent witness for the defendant.
Exceptions sustained and a new trial granted.