Page:United States Reports, Volume 24.djvu/289

Rh ed leave of the Court, as landlord of the premises, to be made defendant in the place of the casual ejector, and was admitted accordingly under the common consent rule. At the trial of the present suit, the record of the proceedings in the ejectment were offered by the plaintiffs as evidence to maintain this action; and they then offered to prove, by the testimony of R. G. Harper, and N. Dorsey, esquires, that the defendant had retained, and paid them, to conduct the defence of the ejectment for his benefit, and also propounded to these witnesses the following question: Were you retained, at any time, as attorney or counsel, to conduct the ejectment suit above mentioned, on the part of the defendant, for his benefit, as landlord of those premises! This question was objected to by the defendant’s counsel, as seeking an improper disclosure of professional confidence; and was rejected by the Court. Whereupon the plaintiffs excepted.

The plaintiffs then gave in evidence certain deeds and patents, by which, and the admissions of counsel on both sides, the title to the premises in question was vested in John B. Chirac, deceased; and also read in evidence certain depositions to prove who were the heirs of J. B. Chirac; and also offered the record in the ejectment to prove Maria Bonfils to be one of the heirs, and then offered to prove, by parol evidence, that the defendant was, in fact, landlord of the premises at the commencement, and during the progress of the ejectment, and had notice of the