Case Name: Trustees, &c. of Kingston against Tappen
Court: New York Court of Chancery
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1815
Citations: 1 Johns. Ch. 368
Docket Number: 
Parties: Trustees, &c. of Kingston against Tappen.
Judges: 
Reporter: Johnson's Chancery Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 368–369

Head Matter:
Trustees, &c. of Kingston against Tappen.
A witness who has been examined before a commissioner, by consent of parties, on affidavit that his testimony was not truly taken down by the commissioner, who had mistaken it materially, was ordered to be re-examined before the examiner, there being no suggestion of any tampering with the witness.
VAN VECHTEN, for the plaintiffs,
moved to have the deposition of Moses Gomans, a witness on the part of the plaintiffs, taken before a commissioner appointed by consent of the parties to examine witnesses on both sides, amended, upon affidavit of the witness, stating, that his testimony, as taken down by the commissioner, was materially mistaken, in certain particulars stated, and not truly taken down.
I. Hamilton, contra,
read the affidavit of the cominissioner, that the testimony of Gomans was truly and accurately taken down as he gave it, and distinctly and audibly read to him afterwards, and before he subscribed it. He also read the affidavits of two other witnesses, as to what the witness had declared that he knew before he was sworn.

Opinion:
The Chancellor.
Here is no suggestion of any tampering with the witness, and Í am bound to presume there is a mistake or misapprehension on one side or the other. The cases of Griells v. Gansell, and of Darling v. Staniford, (2 P. Wms. 646. Dickens, 358.,) show, that re-examinations have been allowed in such cases ; and, in the latter case, the court took the re-examination from the examiner into their own hands. Let the witness be re-examined before one of the examiners of the court.
Rule accordingly.