176 ‘ sialiakesnic taut 5 
this sitject elite it will be proper to consider in this 
place. If a subpena is served on an ordinary or skilled 
veterinary witness, is he bound to obey tt? In Betts v. 
Clifford (Warwick | Lent Assizes, 1858) the late Lord 
Campbell stated, in answer to a question, that a sczentific 
_ witness was not bound to attend upon being served with a 
subpoena, and that he ought not to be subpcenaed. If the 
witness knew any question of fact he might be compelled to 
attend, but he could not be compelled to give his attendance 
to speak to matters of opznzon. 
In Rich v. Pierpoint, an action for malapraxis, Dr. Lee 
was summoned against his will to give evidence on the part 
of the plaintiff. He stated that on the evening before the 
trial a solicitor called on him and left a subpcena with him. 
Dr. Lee would. not hear any account of the case which the 
solicitor proposed to give, and expressed his resolution to 
have nothing to do with the trial. The solicitor informed 
him that he would be required to pay the usual penalty if 
he did not attend. He went down to Kingston, and was 
warned not to leave the Court until the trial was over. He 
heard the evidence on the part of the plaintiff, and upon this 
and the medical evidence he gave his opinion—not much 
in favour of the party who summoned him, and not much 
against him. Dr. Lee:considered that he could not avoid 
- attending the trial under these circumstances. (Medical 
Times and Gazette, April 12, 1862, p. 389.) 
In the case of Wedd v. Page (“Carrington and Kirwan’s 
Reports,” p. 23), the late Mr. Justice Maule ruled as follows : 
—“There is a distinction,” said his Lordship, “ between the 
case of a man who sees a /ac¢ and is called to prove it in a 
Court of justice, and that of a man who is selected by a party 
_'to give his ofzudon on a matter on which he is peculiarly 
conversant from the nature of his employment in life. The 
former is bound, as a matter of public duty, to speak to @ 
fact which happens to have fallen within his own knowledge 
