544 ARTICLE 16.

short-hand and afterward typewritten under the direction of the examiner.
The testimony produced by both parties shall be taken before the same
examiner, unless, for special reasons, it be otherwise directed by the court
or judge thereof, and all viva voce examinations shall, as near as may be,
be conducted in the manner and order of the examination of witnesses in
the trials of fact in the courts of common law. The defendant shall not be
compelled to proceed with the taking of his testimony until the plaintiff has
finished or declared he has none to take; nor shall the plaintiff be compelled
to proceed with the rebutting testimony, until the defendant has completed
the testimony on his part.1

An. Code, sec. 255. 1904, sec. 237. 1888, sec. 219. Rule 37.

272. In all examinations, whether conducted by written interroga-
tories or viva voce, at the conclusion of the examination by the parties, the
examiner shall put to the witness an interrogatory in the following form:
" Do you know, or can you state, any other matter or thing which may be
of benefit or advantage to the parties to this cause, or either of them, or
that may be material to the subject of this your examination, or the matters
in question between the parties ? If yea, state the same fully and at large
in your answer." And the examiner shall write down the answer to said
interrogatory, as part of the deposition of the witness.

An. Code, sec. 256. 1904, sec. 238. 1888, sec. 220. Rule 38.

273. In all cases the testimony shall be written down in the language
of, and as delivered by, the witness, and be signed by him in the presence
of the parties or. their solicitors, or such of them as may attend, unless such
signing be waived; but if the witness, for any cause, may not be able to
sign the same, or shall for any reason refuse so to do, and the signature is
not waived, the examiner shall sign the deposition, stating the reason why
the witness has not signed the same; and the examiner may, upon all ex-
aminations, state any special matters to the Court that he may deem proper,
to enable the Court the better to understand the evidence. Any question or
questions that may be objected to by either of the parties shall be noted by
the examiner upon the deposition; but he shall not have power to decide
on the competency, materiality or relevancy of any question proposed or
evidence elicited, nor as to the competency or privilege of any witness
offered. All questions of privilege raised, or demurrer interposed, by any
witness, to questions propounded, shall be at once reported by the examiner
to the Court or Judge thereof for decision, and the Court or Judge shall
hear and determine the same without delay; and in such cases the Court
may award cost as justice may appear to require; and in all cases the Court
shall have full power to deal with and to direct the payment of the cost of
incompetent, 'immaterial or irrelevant evidence, or any part thereof, as
justice may require, apart from the general cost of the case.1

This section has no application to proceedings in the orphans' court. Gantt v.
Trott, 107 Md. 327.

1 Thus amended by equity rules 38 and 39, November 21, 1919, adopted by the court
of appeals in accordance with sec, 18 of art. 4 of the Constitution.