Opinion
October, 1814.
Clayton and Brinckle, for the defendant, moved for his discharge, and produced witnesses to prove that no contempt was in fact committed.
Hall, for the State, objected that witnesses ought not to be permitted to contradict the return. The return is conclusive until falsified by the verdict of a jury on a demurrer in an action for a false return. He cited 3 Bac.Abr. 439 in notis and said that the Chancellor (Ridgely) had so decided in two cases upon a full consideration of the law.
Defendant had been committed to jail on refusing to find sureties for his good behavior etc. The commitment was made by Benjamin Blackiston, a Justice of the Peace. The sureties for good behavior were demanded on the ground of a contempt alleged to have been committed by defendant in the presence of the Justice.
My practice has always been to hear witnesses as to the truth of the facts, and I believe it to be agreeable to the spirit of our Act.
The defendant was discharged on the ground that there had. been no contempt in fact.