Case Name: Colston vs. Nicols
Court: Court of Appeals of Maryland
Jurisdiction: Maryland
Decision Date: 1800-11
Citations: 1 H. & J. 105
Docket Number: 
Parties: Colston vs. Nicols.
Judges: 
Reporter: Reports of cases argued and determined in the General Court and Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland, form 1800 ... [to 1826]
Volume: 1
Pages: 105–106

Head Matter:
COURT OF APPEALS,
NOV. TERM, 1800,
Colston vs. Nicols.
To prove that a person offered as a witness was interested in the event of the cause, evidence was offered to prove that he had declared that he was interested, &e. Held, thuthe evidence was admissible to impaeh the competency of the person offered as a witness.
Writ oe Error. The defendant in error, brought an action of trespass q. c. /. in the general court, for the eastern shore, for a trespass, committed on a tract of land called Cumberland, lying in Talbot county. The general issue was pleaded
The plaintiff at the trial, to support the issue on his part, offered to swear a certain John Valliant as a witness, but the defendant, (now plaintiff in error,) objected to the said Valliant being sworn, alleging him to be interested in the event of the cause, and offered to swear another witness, to prove that the said Valliant declared to him that he was interested in the event of the suit, and to pay a part of the costs of the suit in case the plaintiff lost the cause.
But the Generar Court, (Goldsborough, Ch. J. Chase and Duvall, J.) were of opinion, that such testimony was inadmissible, and refused to let the witness be sworn to impeach the competency of the said Valliant. The defendant excepted; and the verdict and judgment being for the plaintiff, the defendant brought a writ of error to this court.
Key, for the Plaintiff in error.
Martin, (Attorney General,) for the Defendant in error.

Opinion:
The Court op Appears at this term, reversed the judgment of the General Court.