Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 31.djvu/1408

 1356 FIFTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. SEss. II. Ch. 85%. 1901. taken down stenographically by the officer taking the deposition or a com etent and disinterested stenographer engaged by him and afterwards transcribed into writing or typewriting, and, in the presence of the officer taking the deposition, read over to the witness, and signed by him. If the witness be unable to write or refuse to sign the deposition the officer taking the same shall certify the fact and the reason, if an Y assi ned b * the witness. -w be se¤1eciis;>éii If, at the time of trial, the witness can be produced to testify in open ness “P ‘court the deposition shall not be read in evidence; but 1f the attendance of the witness can not be produced then the said deplosition shall be admissible in evidence, subject to such objections to the questions and answers as were noted at the time of taking the deposition, or within ten days after the return thereof, and would be valid were the witness personally present in court. Granting dedimps In any case where the interests of justice may require the supreme §2§§§°,§§§ r.§I;§1€,§£ court of the District of Columbia may grant a dedimus potestatem to d*‘~m· take depositions according to common usage, and may,_ according to the usages of chancery, direct depositions to be taken in perpetuam rei memoriam if they relate to any matters that might be cognizable in any court of the United States. Foreign denesitigns. When the testimony of any witness residing in any place not within me r°g&t°rl’ 9 c' the sovereignty of the United States is desired in any cause pending in any court of the District of Columbia, the same may be taken upon interrogatories and cross-interrogatories filed in thil said cgurt, and transmitted by said court under letters rogatory a dresse to some court of record in the foreign State in which said witness is then to be found. Witnesses net ie et- Sec. 1059. No witness shall be required under the provisions of the Zigd we Of °°umy' preceding section, to attend at any place dnt of the county where he resides, nor more than forty miles from the place of his residence, to —ienEros1T1oi<s.—On motion made in nfd)n1awaetions.» any common law action in the District, by a party thereto, the court may order a commission to issue to such person or persons as the court may name to take the deposition of any witness residing or being out of the District on interrogatories and crossdnterrogatories, to be filed and accompany such commission, as may be provided by the rules of the court, and said commission shall be executed, returned, and pub- Jiligggeugedifwib lished according to the practice in courts of equity: Provided, j1`hat nesscan bqimnucea. such depositions shall not be admitted at the trial of the action 1f, at the time, the witness be present in the District and his attendance can be obtained b r the rocess of the court. mggsiimenyineqniiy SEc. 1061. llhesrriionr IN EQUITY CAUSES.—].l"1 equity causes in the ' District the testimony of the witnesses may be taken in the manner provided by the rules of the Supreme Court of the United States for practice in equity, and of the supreme court of the District of Colum- _{Q,;’g,if%m,,y taken bia not inconsistent therewith: Provided, The court may, in its discretion, for proper cause shown, order the testimony to be taken orally in its presence or under a commission, according to the usages of chancery, or before examiners, upon any reasonable notice as directed in