Joseph Story

“ Another exception, quite as remarkable, and standing upon a ground applicable to the present case, is that of a person who is to receive a reward for or upon the conviction of the offender; for he is universally recognised as a competent witness, whether the reward be offered by the public or by private persons. ”

“ The public has an interest in the suppression of crime and the conviction of guilty criminals. It is with a view to stir up greater vigilance in apprehending, that rewards are given; and it would defeat the object of the legislature, by means of those rewards, to narrow the means of conviction and to exclude testimony, which would otherwise be admissible.' Another exception is, in cases where, although the statute giving the party or the informer a part of the penalty or forfeiture, contains no direct affirmation, that he shall nevertheless be a competent witness ”

“ It is scarcely possible, that it could be done, in one case in one hundred. Can congress reasonably be supposed, in cases of offences committed upon the high seas, thus to have intended to shut out all the ordinary means and ordinary proofs of the offence; and thus to have given new encouragement, and new motives to theft, and embezzlement and plunderage? We think not. Upon all the grounds of exception already stated; upon the ground of necessity, and of public policy, and of attaining the manifest objects of the statute, and the ends of justice ”

“ The defendants, William Murphy and William Morgan, were indicted, under the 16th section of the act entitled, 'an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,' approved on the 30th of April 1790, for taking and carrying away, with an intent to steal and purloin, on board of an American vessel, on the high seas, one hundred and two gold coins, called sovereigns, each of the value of five dollars, of the personal goods of Francis McMahon. ”