Matthews V Payne II: The Cross-Examination of the Plaintiff

Subtitle

Cross-examination of the plaintiff, The

Synopsis

Examines the general rules and tactics employed in any cross examination. Set in a county court where the plaintiff is being examined in a vehicle damage claim. The lesson user plays the part of the plaintiff’s advocate and is invited to object to inadmissible questions and answers by pressing a computer key during the course of the trial. The judge summarily dismisses some objections, but the programme always explains why. Where an objection might be correct the user has to state the basis of the objection by reference to a particular evidential rule selected from a multiple-choice menu. The trial will not resume until the correct ground has been identified. At the end of the evidence, the user can obtain a performance score and can see the objectionable sequences which were not objected to.
Rules considered include badgering, hearsay, opinion, comment, speculation, relevance, misleading the witness. Guidance is provided on advocacy techniques and the user can review video examples of both good and bad approaches adopted by the defendant’s advocate in the cross examination. Topics considered include aims and approaches, attacking testimony and credibility, controlling witnesses, common cross-examination errors, question strategy and types.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Video; Videodisc. Requires LaserVision videodisc player and IBM-PC compatible computer with video overlay card.

Year of production

1994

Availability

Hire
Sale; 2-day hire: £145.00 (+VAT). 5-day hire: £290.00 (+VAT) 1995 sale: £1100.00 (+VAT)

Documentation

Accompanying software and user’s guide.

Uses

Undergraduates, practitioners and trainers in legal studies.

Subjects

Law

Keywords

courtroom procedures; law courts

Distribution Formats

Type

CD-ROM

Distributor

Name

Staffordshire University Law School

Phone

01782 573406

Fax

01782 745089

Address

Cadman Building
College Road
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 2DE

Notes

contact: Mary Hibbs