Volume 1

Taylor's principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / [Alfred Swaine Taylor].

  • Alfred Swaine Taylor
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Taylor's principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / [Alfred Swaine Taylor]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    duces tecum/’ in each case commencing with the name of the reigning sovereign, but are more familiarly known as subpoenas. Medical men occasionally attend a court, especially that of a coroner, without a subpoena, but such action is very inadvisable. Should he thus attend a civil court without a subpoena, he should take care that he gets in writing from the person who requests his attendance satis¬ factory assurances with regard to his fees. The neglect of this simple precaution often leads to much disappointment and inconvenience if nothing worse. Without a subpoena or some written contract suggested above, a medical witness is not bound to appear, unless he makes a promise to come for good consideration ; if he fails to appear under this promise and consideration, he may find himself in a similar position to the defendant in Yeatman v. Dempsey [7 C. B. (N. S.) 628 and 9 C. B. (N. S.) 881], a divorce suit brought by a husband who alleged that his wife was insane at the date of his marriage to her, wherein it was held that an action could be maintained against a medical man for failing to fulfil his promise to appear and tender himself as a witness and to give his testimony. The jury awarded the plaintiff £50 damages, and the verdict was affirmed by the Court of Common Pleas and also in the Exchequer Chamber; and both courts made it clear that it was not necessary for the plaintiff to show that he would have succeeded in the Divorce Court with the aid of the defendant’s evidence. A subpoena may be served upon a medical (or other) witness either by post or by personal service, and in either case a reasonable sum for travelling expenses is generally tendered with it. In civil cases such tender of expenses is obligatory on the party serving the writ, and if the tender is not made the witness need not accept the subpoena, except under the conditions just illustrated ; in criminal cases it appears that at the time of service a tender of expenses is not bound to be made, though in practice it usually is so, but a medical witness should nevertheless obey the subpoena lest worse befall him. The editor is so frequently consulted as to the authority which a subpoena carries that he thinks the matter should here be dealt with at some length first in a somewhat legal manner and then more popu¬ larly. The strictly Legal View.—The following statements from statute law, and dicta of high legal luminaries, are very material. They are in chronological order. 1. By sec. 6 of 5 Eliz., cap. 9, a penalty of £10 is imposed upon witnesses not appearing to give evidence after service of process (presumably issue and acceptance of a subpoena) out of any of the courts of record within the realm, reasonable expenses having been tendered to them. In modern times there is no record of this Act having been put into force against defaulting witnesses. Certain statutes have given powers to certain Bodies to summon witnesses with penalties for non-obedience, such as to the Board of Trade in inquiries concerning boiler explosions, but with these medical men are not directly concerned.
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