CHAPTER XIX

HANDWRITING EXPERTS AS WITNESSES

Who May Testify As An Expert--Bank Officials and Bank Employes Always Desired--Definition of Expert and Opinion Evidence--Both Witness and Advocate--Witness in Cross Examination--Men Who Have Made the Science of Disputed Handwriting a Study--Objections to Appear in Court--Experts Contradicting Each Other--The Truth or Falsity of Handwriting--Sometimes a Mass of Doubtful Speculations--Paid Experts and Veracity--Present Method of Dealing with Disputed Handwriting Experts--How the Bench and Bar Regard the System--Remedies Proposed--Should an Expert Be an Adviser of the Court?--Free from Cross-Examination--Opinions of Eminent Judges on Expert Testimony--Experts Who Testify Without Experience--What a Bank Cashier or Teller Bases His Opinions on--Actions and Deductions of the Trained Handwriting Expert--Admitting Evidence of Handwriting Experts--Occupation and Theories That Make an Expert--Difference Between an Expert and a Witness--Experts and Test Writing--What Constitutes An Expert in Handwriting--Present Practice Regarding Experts--Assuming to Be a Competent Expert--Testing a Witness with Prepared Forged Signatures--Care in Giving Answers--A Writing Teacher As an Expert--Familiarity with Signatures--What a Dash, Blot, or Distortion of a Letter Shows--What a Handwriting Expert Should Confine Himself to--Parts of Writing Which Demand the Closest Attention--American and English Laws on Experts in Handwriting--Examination of Disputed Handwriting