Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/19

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

12 PEDEBAL EEPOBTBB. �therefore void. Am furtli'er of the opinion that the provis- ion in the contract for transmitting the private, social and family messages of the executive officers of the railroad Com- pany vitiates the contract and renders it illegal. ���In re Shephard. (Oireuit Court, E. D. New York. June 9, 1880.) �1. PbACTICE — SUBPŒNA DUCES TECUM TO PrODUCB PBESONAL PkOPEBTT �— CoNTEMpT op Court. — A subpœna duces tecum can only be used to compel the production of documentary evidence, books, papers, ao- counts, and the like. �In Equity. �Benecict, D. J. This is an application for an attachment against a witness to punish a contempt in refusing to bring certain "patterns" for a stove, in pursuance of the directions of a writ of subpcena duces tecum, issued out of this court and duly served upon the witness. The writ was issued, as of course, from the clerk's ofSce, and without application to the court. �On the part of the witness the point is taken that the court has no power, by a writ of subpœna duces tecum, to com- pel a person to bring to court his property other than docu- mentary evidence, and that the function of a subpœna dw;es tecum is coufined to securing the production of documents and books. �The power to issue the writ of subpœna is derived from section 716, U. S. Eev. St., and must be found in the words "ail writs whieh may be necessary for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions, and agreeable to the usages and prin- ciples of law." Is a writ requiring a person not a party to the suit to attend the court and bring with him certain described patterns of the castings of a stove, in that such patterns may be put in evidence, a writ agreeable to the usages and princi- ples of law ? I have been referred to no case in which the ����