Every one has at some time or another had dealings with a business man, so-called, who if required to furnish his customer with a statement of account has to turn back through many pages and past many and varied items and entries in order to find those for which he seeks ; and even when these are found they are rendered with hesitation and diffidence, the unfortunate "man of business " being doubtful whether he has included too ninny or too few. Such a man, having a business of a simple nature, a retentive memory, and the good fortune to occasionally happen upon a profitable speculation, may live and die well-to-do in this world's goods, but generally his chief certain place of resort is the Bankruptcy Court and its purlieus.
Again, and also in connection with the topic of the Balance, the necessity for neatness and accuracy should be emphasised. Neatness in the rough waste-books in which first entries are made is, perhaps, not always possible, but accuracy is, and it must be insisted upon. It happens very frequently in the course of litigation, that there is some dispute as to the date upon which a payment was made, or goods ordered or delivered, or as to the amount of the payment, or the quantity or description of the goods. In such cases, and in many others of a similar nature, the first entry may become a fact of the greatest value. The evidence before the Court on the disputed fact may be verbal on both sides, there being no documentary proofs in existence. But the person who made the entry, and made it at the actual time of the occurrence or immediately afterwards, is allowed to take his entry into the witness-box and refresh his memory therewith. The entry is not itself evidence against the other side, but when the judge and jury see its existence and hear the witnesses' evidence that it was made by him at the time, it is highly probable that that person's statement as to the facts in dispute will be accepted as the true one. Such an entry may even be evidence as against the other side. This would be the case where it was made by a person, since dead, in the ordinary course of his employ ment, and against the interest of the person so making it. Thus, A. sues B. for .V50 balance of a debt of 1-'60 incurred more than six years before com mencement of the proceedings, the 1)10 payment on account having been made within the six years. B. sets up the statute of limitations by way of defence, alleging that the debt is barred because more than six years have elapsed since it had been incurred ; and as to the X10 alleged to have been paid on account, which if proved would take the case out of the operation of the statute, and so enable A. to recover, says that he didenot in fact pay the nE10. A. has
therefore got to prove that he received the .e10 from B. on the specified date on account of the aforesaid debt ; but C., who at the time had been A.'s collector, is dead. Now if the X10 appears in the collector's cash-book credited to B., and necessarily charged against himself to be accounted for to his employer, there would be an entry by C. against his interest. All A. has to do, therefore, is to prove that C. is since dead, and that the entry was made at the time of the alleged payment in the course of C.'s ordinary employment, and the 1210 will be taken as proved to have been paid at the alleged time by B. The latter will accordingly fail in his defence of the statute of limitations, and A. will recover the .C50, the result of a careful entry in the collector's book. And even an entry made by the party himself in his own shop books may itself be evidence in taking accounts in Chancery (Order xxxiii. R.S.C.) ; and, probably, in a common law action, if made within one year before action brought (7 Jac. I. c. 12, revivified and made perpetual by 26 & 27 Vict. c. 125).
All the relevant books of account of a litigant may be inspected by the other side prior to the hearing of the case, and, on notice, must be produced at the trial. This is to see that the books support the case raised by their owner. Should he tell one tale himself and his books another, it is most probable that the latter will be believed. Should the books be irregularly and doubtfully kept, their owner will be exposed to an extremely critical and suggestive cross-examination, with the probable result that both he and his books will be disbelieved, and that his opponent will gain the day. And the entries may frequently have t most important bearing on the case. Should the case of the defendant be that he is a part surety for the owner's real debtor, and that certain payments made by the debtor in respect of his debt were in fact appropriated by the owner himself to the items for which he was such surety, the owner, in order to win his case, must produce books which show conclusively in his favour the order in which payments by the debtor had been appropriated. Entries out of chronological. order, in doubtful positions, and made evidently at different times, will all count in favour of the defendant. See APPROPRIATION OF PAYMENTS.