In re United States Pipe-Line Co.

44 N.Y.S. 713
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided April 9, 1897·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

RUMSEY, J.

In September, 1896, an action was pending in the court of common pleas of McKean county, Pa., in which the National Transit Company and another were plaintiffs, and the United States Pipe-Line Company was defendant. The court in which that action was pending appointed a commissioner to take the testimony in the city of New York of certain persons residing therein, as witnesses, to be used in that action. This testimony was to be taken by oral questions. A proper application was made, as required by the Code, to a justice of this court, who issued a subpoena requiring the wit-messes to appear before the commissioner at a time therein named. They did so appear, but they declined to answer certain of the questions asked them. An application was made for an order to show cause at a special term of the court why the witnesses should not be required to answer the questions. Upon the hearing of that order to show cause, the motion was denied. From that denial this appeal is taken.

It is claimed on behalf of the appellant that no sufficient means is provided by statute for compelling the attendance of witnesses upon the taking of testimony under a commission of this kind, or to require the witnesses who attend to answer material and proper questions; and therefore it is said that the court, by virtue of its inherent power to compel obedience to its own mandates, has authority to issue such process as is necessary to compel the attendance of witnesses, and to requiré them, when they attend, to answer such questions as are proper to be put to them for the execution of the commission. It was claimed on the other hand by the respondents that the judge who issued the subpoenas to compel attendance of witnesses before the commissioner, pursuant to section 915 of the Code of Civil Procedure, acted solely upon a statutory power in the exercise of an authority unknown to the common law, and that his mandate was not the mandate of the court, and that the only remedy for the disobedience to that mandate was such as was given by the statute, and consequently there was no power in the court to make the order asked for here. This view was concurred in by the learned justice below, and he acted upon it, and denied the motion. To a certain extent we concur in the conclusion which he reached. A proceeding to take testimony in this state for use in an action pending in the court of another state before a commissioner appointed by that court is entirely unknown to the common law. In the absence of any statute upon the subject, the court of chancery in this country assumed jurisdiction to compel the giving [715]*715of testimony by residents of the state to be used in a suit pending in a foreign country by a bill of discovery filed for that purpose. Mitchell v. Smith, 1 Paige, 287; Post v. Railroad Co., 144 Mass. 341, 11 N. E. 540. That the court of chancery had jurisdiction was not admitted in the English courts; and even where that jurisdiction was exercised it was slow and expensive, but yet, until some statute was passed for the taking of such testimony, no other way was known to procure it. The whole proceeding is statutory in its nature, and the well-settled rule applies that where a remedy or proceeding is created by statute, it can be exercised in no other way than that prescribed in the statute, and, if the statute prescribes any particular mode of enforcing the remedy which it gives, that mode is exclusive, and the remedy must be sought in that way, and can be pursued in no other way. Suth. St. Const. §§ 391, 392, 399; Dudley v. Mayhew, 3 N. Y. 9. Therefore we must look to the statute' which prescribes the mode of enforcing the attendance of witnesses in these proceedings to see if there is any such mode prescribed, and the remedy of the appellant, if it has any, is to be sought within that statute. It is quite clear that by the statute upon that subject no power is given to the court as such to compel witnesses appearing before the commissioner to answer questions which are put to them, and for that reason the conclusion reached by the learned justice below that this application could not be granted was correct, and his order must be affirmed.

But we do not agree with his conclusion that the only remedy for a refusal to obey the subpoena or to answer questions when the witness has appeared before the commissioner is that given in section 920 of the Code of Civil Procedure. A short reference to the statutes on that subject will, we think, show that it has always been the policy of the law for the taking of testimony to be used in a foreign state, not only to provide sufficient means to compel the attendance of witnesses before the commission, but also to prescribe the way in.which the witnesses, when they appear, could be compelled to give testimony.

The first statute on the subject is found in the Revised Laws (1 Rev. Laws 1813, p. 49), in which it is provided substantially that certain judicial officers might issue a summons requiring witnesses resident in this state to appear before them to give testimony in an action pending in another state. The statute prescribed the mode of service of summons, and the witness was required to obey it, and to give testimony pursuant to its directions; and a way was provided to compel him to appear and to give' testimony in obedience to the summons. By the Revised Statutes (2 Rev. St. pp. 397, 398, §§ 29-32) this proceeding was amended in certain respects, and the judge was authorized to issue a summons requiring the witness to appear before a commissioner appointed by a court in another state to take testimony in this state for use therein. There is no penalty especially provided in the sections of the Revised Statutes just cited for compelling the testimony of witnesses pursuant to those sections, but the whole subject is treated in another part of the Revised Statutes, and is provided for there. 2 Rev. St. pp. 400, [716]*716401, §§ 42-49. Those sections provide for compelling the witness to appear before the commissioner, and they direct substantially that upon his refusal to appear, or, if he has appeared, upon his refusal to give testimony, the judge who issued the summons shall have power to imprison him until he shall obey the summons, and give testimony pursuant to its requirements. These provisions of the statute continued in force until the adoption of the Code of Civil Procedure; so it will be seen that until that time at least it was the policy of the legislature to provide not only for the taking of testimony to be used in the courts of another state, but a manner in which the giving of such testimony might be enforced. An examination of the Code of Civil Procedure discloses that this policy has not been abandoned. The cases in which depositions may be taken to be used in the courts of another state, and the manner of procuring the attendance of the witness before the commissioner,, are prescribed in sections 914 to 917 of the Code of Civil Procedure. These sections are substantially the same as the provisions of the Revised Statutes on that subject (2 Rev. St. pp. 397, 398, §§ 29-32),. and, like the Revised Statutes, there is not prescribed in that particular article of the Code any manner of enforcing the attendance "of the witness. It is quite true that section 920, which is contained in the same article, provides that any person who fails to appear pursuant to the subpoena, or to give testimony, or to subscribe his deposition, is liable to the penalties which would be incurred in like case if he was subpoenaed to attend the trial of an action in the justice’s court; and for that purpose the officer before whom he is required to appear possesses all the powers of a justice of the peace upon the trial.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In re United States Pipe-Line Co., 44 N.Y.S. 713 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1897).

44 N.Y.S. 713 (In re United States Pipe-Line Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

In re United States Pipe-Line Co.
44 N.Y.S. 1134 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1897)