PUTNAM v. LARIMORE, 1 Ohio Ch. 746

By the Court. The statute (29 O. L. 124) expressly provides;, that the witness shall be sworn to testify the truth, the whole truth, and noting but the truth, and he shall write his testimony, or the magistrate, or some other disinterested person shall reduce it to writing in his presence. The mayor who took this deposition, certifies that the witness appeared before him, and made oath that his deposition annexed, was in all respects just and true, &e. It is but an ex parte affidavit, drawn up without the solemnity of an oath and sworn to be true.

In this way we have no certainty of getting all the witness knows, or any thing more than the party calling him wishes him to say. The intention of the statute is that the witness whose deposition is taken, shall be first sworn, and then relate his story, under the obligation to tell not only the truth, but the whole truth. If a witness were to tell his story to the court, and afterwards swear that what he said was in all respects true, it would be at once seen to be wrong. The exceptions are allowed.