Case Name: UNITED STATES v. HOWE
Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1881
Citations: 26 F. Cas. 394
Docket Number: 
Parties: UNITED STATES v. HOWE.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Cases
Volume: 26
Pages: 394–394

Head Matter:
Case No. 15,404a.
UNITED STATES v. HOWE.
[12 Cent. Law J. 193.]
District Court, W. D. Arkansas.
1881.
Witnesses—Medical Experts—Right to Ekes.
[A physician cannot lawfully lie compelled, even in criminal cases, to testify as an expert to matters of medical science, against his objection, unless first compensated by reasonable fee, as for a professional opinion. Refusal to so testify is not punishable as a contempt.)
[Reprinted by permission.)

Opinion:
This was an indictment against Arena Howe for the crime of murder.
Dr. Bennett was called as an expert. Being sworu, he refused to testify unless first paid a reasonable compensation for giving the results of his skill and experience to the court and jury. PARKER. District Judge, declined to regard this refusal as a contempt of court, and held that there was a wide distinction between a witness called to depose to a matter of opinion depending on his skill in a particular profession or trade, and a witness -who is called to depose to facts which he saw. When he has facts within his knowledge, the public have a right to those facts, to be used in a court of justice in criminal or civil trials; but that the skill and professional experience of a man are so far his individual capital and property, that he cannot be compelled to bestow them gratuitously upon any party; that neither the public, any more than a private person. have a right to extort services from him in the line of his profession or trade, without adequate compensation; that a physician cannot lawfully be compelled to testify as an expert to matters of medical science against his objection, unless first compensated by a reasonable fee, as for a professional opinion; and his refusal to testify as to matters of medical science without such compensation cannot be punished as a contempt.