Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/103

88 FEDERAL REPORTBB. �became of it. First she specifies his interest as owner ot three- fourths of brig Mountain Eagle, of which lie was master, and which, with his instruments, she values at more than $6,000, all of which were totally lost, with an insurance of but $1,500, making his net loss by that disaster amount to $4,500. To disprove the alleged ownership of the husband in this brig, the complainant, at the hear- ing, produced from the records of the custom-house a copy of this vessel's enrollment, bearing date December 1, 1869, which reeited that the bankrupt on that day had sworn that he was the owner of but one-sixteenth of this vessel. The admission of this copy was objected to, on the ground that the paperhad neverbeen filed as testimony in the cause, and no notice had been given that it would be produced in evidence ; and it was ui^ed that, under the practice in equity in the circuit court, exhibits and documentary evidence must be filed before publication, This case, however, did not proceed under the rules and practice in equity, as established in this circuit, but by an understanding of the parties that it should be heard at the Bangor term upon such evidence as either party might then ofier, and witnesses on both sides were then produced and examined orally before the court. This document, therefore, was not inadmissible upon this ground. �By chapter 82, § 100, Eev. St. Maine— �" Copies of enrollments of vessels, or of any other custom-house records or documents deposited in the office of the collector of customs, attested by liim or his deputy under seal of office, may be used in evidence and have the same effect as the production of tlxe records in court, verified by the reoording otlicer inperson." �Would the original record of enrollment in this case be admissible in evidence, in contradiction of the testimony of the defendants as to the bankrupt's ownership of three-fourths of the Mountain Eagle ? �In 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, § 494, it is said : �«Such a document is not of itself evidence of propertj', except so far as it is confirmed by some auxiliary circumstance showing it was made by the author- ity or assent of the person named in it, and who is sought to be charged as owner." �This document is found on the files of the custom-house, and recites that the bankrupt had taken or sabscribed an oath that he was the owner of one-sixteenth of the Mountain Eagle; but there is nowhere in evidence any copy of such an oath, and the enrollment does not even state before whom it was taken. There is no evidence that the bankrupt ever saw or knew of the paper before it was read at the ��� �