WINDER v. DIFFENDERFFER. 183

relation to it The mode of obtaining such a commission, and of
selecting the commissioners, to whom it is to be directed, are, in
some particulars, different, in England, from those which, by usage,
the rules of the court, and legislative enactments, have been pre-
scribed for attaining the same objects here. All which may,
however, be passed over as unimportant as regards the matter now
under consideration.

In England, the interrogatories, intended to be propounded to
the witnesses, must accompany the commission, or be handed to
the commissioners before they actually begin to execute it. (c) And
according to the ancient orders, and the long established practice,
they must be so drawn as to call forth only those facts which may
be used as evidence in the cause. To prevent the introduction of
impertinence and scandal, it is directed, that they shall be drawn
or sanctioned by counsel; that they shall be penned with care, so
that they be pertinent, and only to the points necessary; and that the
witnesses be sorted and examined on those interrogatories only to
which their testimony extends, without the needless interrogatories
of matters unnecessary or immaterial; as well to avoid the expense
of superfluous examinations, as that apt interrogatories, which are
the very life of the case, may be exhibited, (d) The party, who
applies for and obtains a commission, has the carriage of it; and it
is his duty to give notice to the commissioners and to the opposite
party, of the time and place, when and where it is to be exe-
cuted, (e) At which time and place, the witnesses also are sum-
moned to convene; and if they neglect or refuse to do so, on the fact
being represented to the court, they may be compelled to attend.

When the commissioners have met, and they and their clerk,
have taken the prescribed oath, which requires them to keep the
testimony taken by them secret, until it shall be legally published,
and they are prepared to proceed, they then exclude every one else
from the apartment in which they sit, and call in only one witness
at a time, to whom they propound the interrogatories in succession.
And, after examining the witness on each interrogatory, they care-
fully take down in writing what he declares in relation thereto, (f)

(e) Forum Rom. 12T.—(d) Beam's Orders, 184; 1 Harr. Prac. Chan. 456,485.—-
(e) 1 Harr. Prac. Chan. 441.

(f) 3 Blac. Com. 449; 1 Harr. Prac. Chan, 462. In the year 1707, among many
other complaints made against the proceedings in chancery, it was alleged, 'that
commissioners to examine witnesses, and their clerks, were not upon oath, which
lets them at liberty to discover evidence, and introduces perjury, new commissions,