The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-01

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men and women OF excellent attachments
and finely trained moral faculties have been
called to testify.
II know women whose testimony m 10
any given event would be AZ credible Aathet
of any man whom | have ever examined %
witRessss,'' said he. There ia a personal
equation in every man and In every woman.
Experience tsAehes y lawyer what this u III
any givea case. although lawyers Of expeTi-
thor own clients. II shia p~eraonal equation
ia correctly apprehendsd. y iawysr, or q
Judge or a juror who has a fair knowledge
OF human nature can tell howm much reliance
may be PLACED in the literalness of awitness
statement. Thoinlrrnity efhuman language
AZ ID we'll known, interchangeable to give
an absolutely correct account OF any trans
aosion. Exaggerated emphasis, expression
and nodalatfon all tend TO add or subtract
from an absolutely accurate word picture
of any event or transaction. For that rea-
son all oral or written statements Of wit
nsssss may be weighed in the scales Of
sound Judgment, and this ~ true OF the tes-
timoRy OF the most Intelligent and conaci-
entious OF witnesses.
my experience has been mainly with
witnesses in civil cases, Il ! take into CON
sideration the personal equation. / am just
AZ willing to believe the statement Of the
average woma an rs l am that OF the average
mai testifying in OWL actions or proceed
ings. In doing 10. l bear in mind that
this equation ia apt TO be different
in the en' case from Ma what It
ass more supsrlativss than men. This is
evident from the language Of school girls.
Nothing ia simply beautiful everything ia
perfectly splendid.' When = school girl
has been surprised she sxolains 4 thought
/ should der She will speak Of \ thing as
.awfully' nice! Cultivation and experience
of life correct this fault Of exaRReration
somewhat, and I have in mind Some women
whose moderation and careful statements
Of facts are models in their way.
But the majority Of women uncon-
%sciously %exaggerate by the use of the
stronger adjectives and adverbs and BY the
use of the superlative degree when weaker
words would be moro accurate. & ~
s"The difficulty I find with male Witnesses
who are not personally interested in 4 con-
trovsrsy is that they understate rather than
ovsrstate the facts. / belisvs that most men
are more just than most women, and this
sense Of Justice makss them especially care
full TO testify a. to circumstances in which
they are not personally or Immediately
concerned with great elaboration and cir
cumspection.
ITO state briefly my general view Of what
effect the testimony OF mere witnesses will
have upon the average juror, l am inclined
to think that too implicit belief in the
words of most women Witnesses has led and
will lead to more incorrect conclusions than
the same belief in the litera statements Of
most male witnesses.
''Now. az to the parties substan italy in
terested in the result of the eontr ovsrsy. I
have no doubt that the most honest and
post instructed upconsciously color theft
testimony. and this is an element that
must be taken into consideration in weigh
ing it. It seems, Of course absurd to as to
reject the testimony of interested parties,
as was done at common law, and yet there
Was something true at tbs basis Of the rule
which excluded such testimony. There are
instances. ii is true. OF exceedingly sensi-
tive conscicnoes where even parties, both
men and women, through fear of doing the
slightest wrong, will rather understate
than overstate their cases. I cannot say
that his is common.
"a skillful lawyer. in trying a case, will
in some way convey to the judge and the
Jury his apprehsnsions OF tho personal
equation in ths makeup of any witness ex-
arained, and this will aid both judge and
jury to reach such conclusions as to the
facts as the lawyer believes to be the cor
rect one.
II dc not think that Intentional false
swearing is very U~nintentional
false swearing as TO facts is unquestionably
present in every controversy. I have no
reason to think that perjury, when it does
occur, is more common with female than
with male Witnesses"
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