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77 Or. 522

State v. Eastman

Oregon Supreme Court

Decided October 5, 1915

Oregon Supreme Court · decided 1915-10-05

From Columbia: James A. Eakin, Judge. Statement by Mr. Justice McBride. This was an appeal from an order of tbe Circuit Court of Columbia County adjudging defendant in contempt for disobedience to an order of the court made in certain divorce proceedings which required defendant, A. R. Eastman, to pay to the clerk of tbe court for tbe support of relator, Mary Eastman, and her minor children tbe sum of $20 per month.

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently March 1930

3 state decisions

Relies on Miller v. Munson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Dismissed · Decided 1915-10-05

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Mr. Justice McBride

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2The affidavit upon which the order to show cause was based was insufficient to confer jurisdiction upon the court to make the order. It is in the third person, and Section 829, L. O. L., provides: “In all affidavits and depositions, the witness must be made to speak in the first person.” The true test of the sufficiency of an affidavit is whether or not a charge of perjury could be based upon it: 1 R. C. L. 773; Miller v. Munson, 34 Wis. 579 (17 Am. Rep. 461). It is obvious •that it would be a good defense to a prosecution for perjury for making a false affidavit to show that the paper in question was not in legal contemplation an affidavit but something else. Proceedings of this character are quasi criminal, and the defendant is entitled to demand a substantial compliance with the statute before a penalty can be imposed which may result in his imprisonment.

¶3The proceeding is dismissed. Dismissed.

Mr. Chief Justice Moore, Mr. Justice Burnett and Mr. Justice Benson concur.
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