ABC's of the Law

A witness is someone who has personal knowledge of something which is relevant to a case. A witness can be called to court to report under oath on what she has seen or knows. A general rule in court is that a witness can only testify about what she has seen or heard, not what she has heard from other people about an event. Expert witnesses are an exception to this rule. Usually a witness is for one side or the other in a civil trial, or the Crown or defence in a criminal trial but not both. The other side or party has the opportunity in court to cross-examine witnesses (ask them questions) during a hearing to establish if they are credible or not.