4. If the witness declines to answer a question, that fact, with the reason assigned by him for declining, must be stated.
5. If any papers or documents are produced before him, and proved by the witness, they or copies of them, must be annexed to the deposition, subscribed by the witness, and certified by the commissioner.
6. The commissioner must subscribe his name to each sheet of the deposition, with the papers and documents proved by the witness, or copies thereof, to the commissioner, and must close it up under seal, and address it as directed by the indorsement thereon.
7. If there is direction on the commission to return it by mail, the commissioner must immediately deposit it in the nearest post office. If any other direction is made by the written consent of the parties, or by the court or judge, to the commissioner as to its return, the commissioner must comply with the directions. A copy of this section must be annexed to the commission.
§ 8393. Commission delivered to an agent. If the commission and return are delivered by the commissioner to an agent, he must deliver the same to the clerk to whom it is directed, or to the judge of the court in which the action is pending, by whom it may be received and opened upon the agent making affidavit that he received it from the hands of the commissioner, and that it has not been opened or altered since he received it.
§ 8394. Agent becoming incapacitated. Procedure. If the agent is dead, or from sickness or other cause is unable personally to deliver the commission and return as prescribed in the last section, it may be received by the clerk or judge from any other person, upon his making an affidavit that he received it from the agent, that the agent is dead, or, from sickness or other casualty, unable to deliver it, and it has not been opened or altered since the person making the affidavit received it, and that he'believes it has not been opened ur altered since it came from the hands of the commissioner.
§ 8396. Commission and return must be filled. The clerk or judge receiving and opening the commission and return must immediately file it, with the affidavit mentioned in the last two sections, in the office of the clerk of the court in which the indictment or information is pending. If the commission and return is transmitted by mail, the clerk to whom it is addressed must receive it from the post office, and open and file it in his office, where it must remain unless otherwise directed by the court.
§ 8396. Same. Constitute public record. The commission and return must at all times be open to the inspection of all persons, who must be furnished a copy of the same or any part thereof, by the clerk on payment of his fees.
§ 8397. Depositions may be read on trial. Depositions taken under a commission, may be read in evidence by either party on the trial, upon it being shown that the witness is unable to attend from any cause whatever; and the same objections may be taken to a question in the interrogatories, or to the answers in the deposition, as if the witness had been examined orally in court.
1160
