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Courtroom Witness Procedures

Witnesses in court are examined in three stages: Examination in chief involves the party who called the witness questioning them directly to elicit testimony supporting their version of events, within certain rules. Cross-examination is then permitted, allowing the opposing party to test the witness's veracity and completeness of testimony. It aims to discredit the witness or cast doubt. Finally, re-examination allows the original party to address any new issues or statements that arose during cross-examination, but not present new evidence of their own. Its purpose is to limit any damage done in cross-examination.

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126 views3 pages

Courtroom Witness Procedures

Witnesses in court are examined in three stages: Examination in chief involves the party who called the witness questioning them directly to elicit testimony supporting their version of events, within certain rules. Cross-examination is then permitted, allowing the opposing party to test the witness's veracity and completeness of testimony. It aims to discredit the witness or cast doubt. Finally, re-examination allows the original party to address any new issues or statements that arose during cross-examination, but not present new evidence of their own. Its purpose is to limit any damage done in cross-examination.

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Vincent Daka
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© © All Rights Reserved
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EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES

When a witness is brought before the court, they are to take an oath or affirmation,
then they will be examined by the party calling the witness, this is Examination in
Chief the witness is questioned by the party calling them to offer direct evidence to
prove their case. The main objective is to obtain a testimony in support of the version
of the facts to the issue, for which the party calling the witness contends. During
examination in chief the calling party is limited by rules which include the prohibition
of leading questions, leading questions are questions that suggest a particular
answer and lead to the assumption of facts being in existence. The rule is not
followed rigidly as there are exceptions i.e., when something is not in dispute leading
questions can be asked. Another requirement during examination in chief is that a
witness should speak from personal knowledge, an individual can not testify or give
account on someone else’s behalf.

When the calling party is satisfied with the testimony given the witness is subjected
to Cross-examination, this is a guaranteed right of the opposing party. Cross-
examination is the examination of a witness by a party other than the calling party 1.
In the case of Mechanical inventions v Austin 2 the court cited that ‘cross examination
is a powerful and valuable weapon for the purpose of testing the veracity of a
witness and the accuracy and completeness of his story”. Cross-examination is
designed to discredit the witness’s and cast an element of doubt in the witness. The
party conducting the cross-examination may rely on it to elicit information favorable
to their case. In cross-examination there are fewer limitations compared to
examination in chief, this is evident by the liberty to ask leading questions, despite
being restricted by relevance during cross-examination a party is not limited to
asking questions on matters raised in examination. It is fundamental for the witness
to be cross-examined on the testimony given, the court takes an assumption that
failure to cross-examine a witness on any part of the testimony may be taken as an
acceptance of that evidence, this was illustrated in the case of Brown v Dunn3.

When cross-examination is completed the witness should be Re-examined, the right


to re-examine a witness is only available where a cross-examination was conducted.
1
Oxford Dictionary of Law
2
Mechanical inventions v Austin (1935) AC 34
3
Brown v Dunn (1893) 6 R. 67, H.L
The purpose of re-examination is to limit any damage done during cross-
examinations it is not the repetition of evidence given originally, no leading questions
are to be asked in re-examination. The party is limited to addressing questions or
statements given in cross-examination. New evidence is not admissible in re-
examination as the opposing party will not be given the right to cross-examine the
newly admitted evidence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CASES

Brown v Dunn (1893) 6 R. 67, H.L

Mechanical inventions v Austin (1935) AC 34


BOOKS

Oxford dictionary of Law

© VINCENT DAKA

UNIVERSITY OF LUSAKA (LL.B) 2023

WRITTEN 2021

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