EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.

Patea Mail, 17 February 1881, Page 4

EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES.

The following opinions of the late Lord Chief Justice Cockburn on the manner in which witnesses are often treated by bullying barristers may be read with advantage by some members of the legal profession : “ I deeply deplore that members of the Bar so frequently put, unnecessarily, questions affecting the private life of witnesses, which are only justifiable when they affect the credibility of a witness. I have watched closely the administration of justice in France, Germany, 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 as in England. The way in 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. Men and women of all ranks shrink with horror from subjecting themselves to the wanton insult and bullying, misnamed crossexamination, in our English Courts, Watch the tremor that passes the •frames of many persons as they enter the witness box. I remember to have seen so distinguished a man as the late Sir Benjamin Brodie shiver as he entered the witness-box. I dare say his apprehension amounted to exquisite torture. Witnesses are just as necessary for the administration of justice as judges or jurymen, and are entitled to be treated with the same consideration, and their affairs and private lives ought to be held as sacred from the gaze of the public as those of the judges and the jurymen. I venture to allow no questions to be put to a witness unless such as are .clearly pertinent to the issue before the Court, except where the credibility of the witness is deliberately challenged by counsel; and that the credibility of a witness should not be wantonly challenged on slight grounds.”

THE MODERN COURTSHIP. “My sweetest, my own darling, you know—you must have seen that you are all there is in life to me ” “ Please don’t. Please don’t be so awful.” “ Can you doubt that I love you ? You know you are my religion, my life here, my hope hereafter ” Don’t be so terrible. You are perfectly awfully terrible.” “ But, my soul, you are my eyesight. There is no fragrance in the air if you turn from me. I am walking death without you.” 11 Oh, you scarce me so. You are so fearfully horrible in your talk.” “ Be mine, my sky, my solar system. Be my wife, my sweetest.” u Oh, you horrible man. You are perfectly horrible, awfully awful.” And then she flops over, and buries her head in his shirt bosom. That isn’t the way you did it when you were her age, is it, gentle reader ?