VALUE OF EVIDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20960, 25 August 1931, Page 9

VALUE OF EVIDENCE.

THE CAUSE OF ERRORS. JUDGE'S OBSERVATIONS. One often heard it said that a Jot of untrue evidence was given in courts of justice, said Mr. Justice Blair to a jury in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth the other day. He thought, however, that it would be more accurate to say that there was a lot. of inaccurate evi-

dence. Human evidence was subject to error and errors could creep in by reason of prejudices. Very often they heard witnesses on one side contradicting those on the other. His Honor said that if a person saw an accident in which his brother was concerned the particular facts that most appealed to him were those that would most strongly favoui the brother. Conversely, another witness of the accident would see the facts favouring the participant in whom lie was interested. Both witnesses would later go to the Court and each would give perfectly honest testimony. Yet it would not be possible to reconcile their evidence. I hat frequently happened. To get at the true position, the Judge added, the Court had to try to reconstruct from all the evidence in its possession the things that occurred at the moment of the accident. His Honor was referring to the value of circumstantial evidence under certain conditions.