Court Opinion

ID: 9808949
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:55:57.844818+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:22:02.094408
License: Public Domain

Douglas, J.,
concurring only in result. I cannot but think that the testimony of the widow comes within the intent and spirit of the prohibition contained in section 590 of The Code She testified, to the delivery to her deceased husband by the deceased grandfather of a deed conveying land in which the witness would be entitled to dower by virtue of said deed and of it alone. Section 590 expressly provides that: “A party or person interested in the event, or a person from, through or under whom such a party or interested person derives his interest or title by assignment or otherwise, shall not be examined as a witness in his own behalf or interest, or in behalf of the party succeeding to his title or interest against the executor * * * concerning a personal transaction or communication between the witness and the deceased person,” etc. The prohibition extends only to par*247ties and privies, and not to mere strangers wbo would have no motive to testify falsely and whose testimony would not be tinctured by self-interest. The object of the statute seems plain, and yet under this decision we will have the following anomalous status of the law:- Suppose that A buys a tract of land from the deceased, and immediately conveys by quitclaim deed to B, who sues for its recovery. A cannot testify to. the execution of the deed, although he is not a party to the suit and has no pecuniary interest whatever in its result; while B, the person suing for the recovery of the land, can testify as to the execution of the deed by the deceased to A from whom alone he derives his title. If B’s testimony is believed, he gets the land; while A' gets nothing in any event, no matter how the suit may go. And yet the evidence of A is excluded while that of B is admitted. Which would be more likely to conceal or pervert the truth ? In the words of Chief Justice Pearson, in Walton v. Gatlin, 60 N. C., 310: “When the stream becomes too muddy to see the bottom, the surest way to find truth is to go up to the fountain head, that is, ‘to the reason and sense of the thing.’ ”