Case ID: binn_6/html/0133-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Tilghman C. J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Lessee of Thomas Rickets against Henderson and another.
    
      Chambersburg, Tuesday, September 29.
    A prothonotary s certificate of the aoknowledgment in open himself by thedt<? ^eslrfthe acS.en” knowiedgment evidence in his own cause-
    IN ERROR.
    Ei ' EJECTMENT in the Common Pleas of Huntingdon. °
    > The defendants offered in evidence below, two entries upon tire docket of the Common Pleas, purporting that on the 9th of September 1791, a motion was made to take the sheriff’s acknowledgment of a deed to Andrexv Henderson, one of the defendants, for 400 acres of land, sold as the property of Édxvard Rickets; that it was opposed by the counsel of Rickets, and continued to December Term; and that on the 9th of December 1791, the sheriff came into Court and acknowledged the deed to Henderson, bearing date the 6th of September 1791. They also-offered in evidence the deed itself, purporting to have been sealed and delivered in the presence of Thomas Smith and yohn Ganan, with a certificate of the acknowledgment under the seal of the Court, and signed by Henderson the grantee. It was " admitted that the entries were in the hand writing of Henderson, who was at the time Prothonotary of the < Common Pleas of Huntingdon, and that Thomas Smith, one of the witnesses, was at the date of the deed and its acknowledgment, President of the Court. The plaintiff objected to the evidence; but the Court admitted it, and sealed a bill of exceptions.
    
      S. Riddle for the plaintiff in error,
    contended that the entries and certificate were inadmissible, upon the same principle that a man cannot be a judge in his own cause, and that a commissioner who has a cause depending, cannot join in the selection of jurors. When tire prothonotary is interested, one of the Court should make the entry and attest it.
    
      Huston contra.
    The law has made no provision for substituting any person in the place of the prothonotary, and therefore the entry and certificate of any other person might be questioned. The prothonotary is not in the situation of a judge; he exercises no discretion, but is the mere organ of the Court.
   Tilghman C. J.

It is the opinion of the Court, that the deed to Henderson was properly received in evidence. A man cannot be judge in his own cause, because his interest may influence his judgment. A commissioner shall not select a jury for the same reason; his interest may influence his mind in making the selection. But the prothonotary exercises no judgment or deliberation; he barely records the acts of the Court; and we consider the entry on the record, as being made by direction of the Court, and in fact as the act of the Court. The judgment is therefore to be affirmed.

judgment affirmed.