Anderson v. Hawkins

I am of opinion that the decision of the Superior Court was correct, under the circumstances of the case; and is shewn to be so, by the reasoning of the Judge who tried the cause. To this it may be added, that if the motion had been made at an earlier stage of the cause, it would have enabled the Plaintiff to meet the testimony of Hawkins with counter *300 evidence, if it existed — a preparation he could not make, when the severance was made immediately before 1 * the trial. It is much more likely that justice should be jujy . administered, when the Plaintiff is apprized in time, that one Defendant is severed, in order that he may be a witness, than that the trial should immediately follow the severance. It depends, after all, upon the exercise of a sound discretion in the Court, as to the time when the motion should be made; and though the claim to sever may be founded on right, since the law was introduced for the benefit of drawers and endorsers, yet some limitation in point of time must be settled in practice, as to the time of moving it.

Per Curiam. — J udgment affirmed.