"NO, MY DEAR, MUCH EASIER TO BE ALWAYS
DULL AND PROSAIC EVERY EVENING."
[_He was about to add a personal illustration, but as, fortunately, he
didn't, the subject dropped._]
* * * * *
THE CROSS-EXAMINER'S VADE MECUM.
_Question_. Have you a right to ask any question in Court?
_Answer_. Certainly, and the questioning is left to my discretion.
_Ques._ What do you understand by discretion?
_Ans._ An unknown quality defined occasionally by the Press and the
Public.
_Ques._ Is the definition invariably the same?
_Ans._ No, for it depends upon the exigencies of the Press and the
frivolity and fickleness of the Public.
_Ques._ Were you to refrain from questioning a Witness anent his
antecedents, and subsequently those antecedents becoming known, his
evidence were to lose the credence of the papers, what would be said
of you?
_Ans._ That I had neglected my duty.
_Ques._ Were you to question a Witness on his past, and, by an
interruption of the trial, that Witness's evidence were consequently
to become superfluous, what would then be said of you?
_Ans._ That I had exceeded my duty.
_Ques._ Is it an easy matter to reconcile the interests of your
clients with the requirements of Public Opinion.
_Ans._ It is a most difficult arrangement, the more especially as
Public Opinion is usually composed of the joint ideas of hundreds of
people who know as much about law as does a bed-post.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25