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.
Ques. In the eyes of Public Opinion, whose commendation is the most questionable?
Ans. The commendation of a Judge, because it stands to reason (according to popular ideas) that a man who knows his subject thoroughly must be unable to come to any definite decision as to its merits.
Ques. And in the eyes of the same authority, whose commendation is the most valuable?
Ans. In the eyes of Public Opinion the most valuable commendation would come from a man who is absolutely ignorant of everything connected with a Counsel's practice, but who can amply supply this possible deficiency by writing a letter to the papers and signing himself "FAIR PLAY."
Ques. Is there any remedy for setting right any misconception that may have occurred as to the rights and wrongs of cross-examiners?
Ans. Yes, the Public might learn what the business of a cross-examiner really is.
Ques. I see, and having done this, can you recommend anything further?
Ans. Having learned a cross-examiner's business, the Public might then have time to attend—to its own!