Same Cause — 2 U.S. 143

Majority

p. 143

SAME CAUSE.

Syllabus

IN order to prove certain passengers, imported by the defendant into the State, to be convicts, and to have undergone punishment, in the Spiel-House of Hamburg, in Germany, a commission to examine witnesses in that city had been taken out. This was returned by the commissioners, containing a written report of the names of the persons confined in the Spiel-House, in 1786, and of the offences for which they had been convict

p. 144

ed, certified by a clerk of the Chancery, to have been signed by the late directors of the Spiel-House, in his presence, and that of the commissioners. The return was objected to, and,

—This is not a good execution of the commission. The testimony is not taken under oath : And, as to the paper being evidence in itself, it is not an official paper, certified by the proper officers, who had, at that time, the custody of the Spiel-House, or of the books. They stile themselves the late directors. This paper, therefore, is not admissible as evidence.