Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/711

* WITHROW. 605 WITTE. at Victoriii Colloj^c, Toronto. Hi' tnterod tlic Methodist ministry in ISlKi and served on vari- ous circuits till 1S74, when he became editor of the Canadian Methodist Magazine. Among his published works are: The Catacombs of Hume (1874, and several editions) ; Worthies of Early Methodism (ISTS); The Romance of Missions (1879); Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs (1880) ; Barbara Heck: a iStory of the Foniutinr] of. Upper Canada (1882) ; Life in a Parsonuye (1882); The Vative Races of North America ( 1893) ; A Harmony of the Gospels, from the Re- vised Version (1894) ; and Makers of Methodism (1898). WITKOWITZ, vlt'ko-vits. A town of Moravia, Austria, near iMillirisch-Ostrau. It is noted for its extensive iron works. Population, in 1900, 19,128. WITNESS (AS. witnes, ge-witnes, testimony, from iiitan, to know). A witness is any person W'ho is summoned by a court of law or an officer authorized to take evidence in a legal proceeding, to appear before the court or officer for the pur- pose of giving testimony under oath or affirma- tion. Attendance as a witness is a compulsory duty, and the presence of any person for the pur- pose of acting as a witHess can be compelled both ■in civil and criminal cases. At common law the mode of summoning a witness in a court of law is by serving him with process of the court called a subpccna, i.e. the formal writ issued in the name of the sovereign ; or if the witness is re- quired to produce a dociunent in his possession, by the writ called a siibptrtia duces tecum. If a ■witness do not attend at the time and place men- tioned, lie is liable to be punished, either by at- tachment, i.e. summary imprisonment for con- tempt, or by a tine. He is also liable in an action for damages at the suit of the party summoning him. During a witness's attendance on this pub- lic duty he is privileged from civil arrest, and cannoi be lawfully served with summons or other process of the court while he is going to, remain- ing at, or returning from the court, iloreover, he is entitled to have his reasonable traveling ex- penses paid to him, and a sum for subsistence while he remains in attendance. He is also en- titled to a reasonable allowance for his loss of time while attending a civil trial; the amount of such allowance is now generally fixed by stat- utes, which provide that it must be paid at the time of the service of the subpoena. Any person is coiupetent to become a witness who has sufficient mental capacity to nnderstand the nature and obligation of an oath or affirma- tion and the nature of the matters about which he is to testify. The special rules governing the competency of such witnesses as infants, married w'omen, and parties interested in the controversy, as well as the rules governing the examination of witnesses, are considered under the topic Evidence (q.v. ). The testimony of witnesses was required at common law to be given under oath. At common law, therefore, an atheist or one not believing in a God and a future state of rewards and punishments was not a competent witness; but. either by modern statute or relaxa- tion of practice, throughout the United States the absence of religious belief does not render one incompetent as a witness. The witness may now qualify either upon oath or affirmation. A per- son residing in one State or country cannot be compelled to attend as a witness in another State or country; but in many States there are stat- utes authorizing the issuance of a eonnnission di- rected to some jierson residing in another State empowering hiin to take the testimony of a non- resident witness with the same force and effect as if the witness appeared and gave his testi- mony in open court. In many States there are also statutes authorizing the issuance of sub- poenas to comjiel a witness within the State to appear and give testimony before a, commissioner to take testimony a])pointcd by the court of an- other State. There are also generally statutes authorizing the issuance of a eonnnission to take the testimony in advance of trial of aged or in- firm witnesses or those who are about to leave the State. This was formerly one of the ex- traordinary remedies atVorded by courts of equity. See further under such titles as Evidence; Con- tempt; Oath; Perjury; Subpcena; Die.s Non; Holiday; Sunday; Jurisdiction; Service ok Papers ; etc. WITS, The. A popular comedy, by Sir Wil- liam Davenant, generally considered his master- piece, produced in 1G33, printed in 1G3G. WITT, Cornelius de. See De Witt, Cob- XELU'S. WITT, .Tan de. See De Witt, Jan. WITTE, vit'te, Emanuel de (1607-92). A Dutch painter, born at Alkniaar. A pupil of Van Aalst, he devoted himself to portraits and historical paintings at first, but afterwards in- cluded interior decoration, in which he was not equaled by any of his contemporaries. He had the talent of combining accuracy of detail with suitable lighting. Pictures by him are in Sir Richard Wallace's collection in the National Gal- lery, London, and in the museums of Berlin, Brussels, Weimar, Hamburg, and Diisseldorf. WITTE, Karl (1800-83). A German jurist and distinguished Dante scholar, born at Lochau, near Halle. In his bo.vhood he attracted atten- tion by his proficiency in linguistics, and as early as 1810 began his university studies at Leipzig, oontinuing them at Giittingen, Ciiessen. and Heidelberg. In 181G he intended to qualify as docent at the University of Berlin, but met with great opposition on account of his youth, and, being granted a stipend, spent more than two years in Italy, devoting himself principally to the study of Italian literature. Since 1821 established as lecturer on jurisprudence at Brcslau. he was appointed professor there in 1823 and at Halle in 1834. Apart from his juridical writings he produced, in collaboration with Kannegiesser, a translation with connuentary of Dante's lyric poems (2d ed. 1842). and pre- pared the excellent critical editfon of the Divina Commedia (18G2), the result of protracted in- vestigations, which was followed by a metrical translation in blank verse, with commentary (3d ed. 1870). He also edited the Monorchia (2d cd. 1874) and Vita niiora. (1870), translated Boc- caccio's Decamerone (3d ed. 18.59), and wrote Alpinisches und Transalpinisches (18.58), and Dnntcforschungcn (vol. i., 18G9; vol. ii., 1879). WITTE, vit't?, Sergei Yulievitch (1840—). A Russian statesman. He was born at Tiflis, where his father, of German extraction, was an