Laws: Cases and Codes : U.S. Code : Title 28
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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Chapter 117 - Notes
Sec.
1781. Transmittal of letter rogatory or request.
1782. Assistance to foreign and international tribunals and
to litigants before such tribunals.
1783. Subpoena of person in foreign country.
1784. Contempt.
1785. Subpoenas in multiparty, multiforum actions.
AMENDMENTS
2002 - Pub. L. 107-273, div. C, title I, Sec. 11020(b)(4)(B)(ii),
Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1829, added item 1785.
1964 - Pub. L. 88-619, Secs. 8(b), 9(b), 10(b), 12(b), Oct. 3,
1964, 78 Stat. 997, 998, substituted "Transmittal of letter
rogatory or request" for "Foreign witnesses" in item 1781,
"Assistance to foreign and international tribunals and to litigants
before such tribunals" for "Testimony for use in foreign countries"
in item 1782, "person" for "witness" in item 1783, and struck out
item 1785 "Privilege against incrimination".
DEPOSITIONS IN ADMIRALTY CASES
Prior to the general unification of civil and admiralty procedure
and the recision of the Admiralty Rules on July 1, 1966, Revised
Statutes Secs. 863 to 865, as amended, which related to depositions
de bene esse, when and how taken, notice, mode of taking, and
transmission to court, provided as follows:
"Sec. 863. The testimony of any witness may be taken in any civil
cause depending in a district court by deposition de bene esse,
when the witness lives at a greater distance from the place of
trial than one hundred miles, or is bound on a voyage to sea, or is
about to go out of the United States, or out of the district in
which the case is to be tried, and to a greater distance than one
hundred miles from the place of trial, before the time of trial, or
when he is ancient and infirm. The deposition may be taken before
any judge of any court of the United States, or any clerk of a
district court, or any chancellor, justice, or judge of a supreme
or superior court, mayor or chief magistrate of a city, judge of a
county court or court of common pleas of any of the United States,
or any notary public, not being of counsel or attorney to either of
the parties, nor interested in the event of the cause. Reasonable
notice must first be given in writing by the party or his attorney
proposing to take such deposition, to the opposite party or his
attorney of record, as either may be nearest, which notice shall
state the name of the witness and the time and place of the taking
of his deposition; and in all cases in rem, the person having the
agency or possession of the property at the time of seizure shall
be deemed the adverse party, until a claim shall have been put in;
and whenever, by reason of the absence from the district and want
of an attorney of record or other reason, the giving of the notice
herein required shall be impracticable, it shall be lawful to take
such depositions as there shall be urgent necessity for taking,
upon such notice as any judge authorized to hold courts in such
district shall think reasonable and direct. Any person may be
compelled to appear and depose as provided by this section, in the
same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify in
court.
"Sec. 864. Every person deposing as provided in the preceding
section [R.S. Sec. 863] shall be cautioned and sworn to testify the
whole truth, and carefully examined.
"His testimony shall be reduced to writing or typewriting by the
officer taking the deposition, or by some person under his personal
supervision, or by the deponent himself in the officer's presence,
and by no other person, and shall, after it has been reduced to
writing or typewriting, be subscribed by the deponent. [As amended
May 23, 1900, ch. 541, 31 Stat. 182.]
"Sec. 865. Every deposition taken under the two preceding
sections [R.S. Secs. 863, 864] shall be retained by the magistrate
taking it, until he delivers it with his own hand into the court
for which it is taken; or it shall, together with a certificate of
the reasons as aforesaid of taking it and of the notice, if any,
given to the adverse party, be by him sealed up and directed to
such court, and remain under his seal until opened in court. But
unless it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the witness
is then dead, or gone out of the United States, or to a greater
distance than one hundred miles from the place where the court is
sitting, or that, by reason of age, sickness, bodily infirmity, or
imprisonment, he is unable to travel and appear at court, such
deposition shall not be used in the cause."
R.S. Secs. 863 to 865, as amended, quoted above, were applicable
to admiralty proceedings only. Proceedings in bankruptcy and
copyright are governed by rule 26 et seq. of Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure. See also Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure set out in the
Appendix to Title 11, Bankruptcy.
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