BROWBEATING WITNESSES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 621, 13 March 1874, Page 3

BROWBEATING WITNESSES.

(He vs Zealand Herald.) The system of badgering and browbeating witnesses in colonial courts of law has often been commented upon by judges, as well as the Press. Hut magistrates do not sufficiently protect witnesses in the minor courts, and more frequently than not a m iscaniage of justice ensues through the unfair questioning of a witness by counsel than perhaps 'through any other one cause. It is with pleasure we read and reproduce the following u marks recently made by the Lord Chief Justice of .the Queen’s Bench on the subject. He says ;—“ I deeply'deplore that m embers of the Bar so frequently put, unnecessarily, * questions aft ecting the private life of witnesses, which • are only j ustifiable when they go to the credibility of a witness. I have watched closely [the administration of justice in France, German), Holland, Belgium, Italy and a little in Spain, as well as in the United States, in Canada and in Ireland, and in no place have I seen witnesses so badgered. browbeaten, and in every way so brutally maltreated os in England. The wayjm which we_treat] our witnesses is a national disgrace, • and seriously obstructs, instead of aiding the ends of justice. In England the most honorable and conscientious men loathe the witness-box. Jlen and women of-all ranks shrink with terror from subjecting themselves to the wanton insult’and bullying,.misnamed cross-exam-ination, in our English courts. Watch the tremor that passes the frames of many persons as they enter the witness-box. I remomhsr'to have seen so distinguished a 'mantis the late Sir Benjamin Brodie shiver as ho entered the witness-box. I daresay j his apprehension amounted to exquisite torture Witnesses are J just as necessary I for the administration [of justice as judges or jury men, and are entitled.to he treated with the same consideration, and their affaire and private lives ought to be held as sacred from the gaze of the public as those of the judges and jurymen. I venture to think that it is the duty of a judge to allow no questions to bo put to a witness unless such as are clearly pertinent to the issue before the Court, except where the credibility of the witnesses is challenged by counsel, and that the credibility of a witness should not bo wantonly challenged on slight grounds.”