Law student needs help...

[janx4u]

For a start I applogise for my bad english. My name is Tarmo and im 22 years old. I live in Estonia ( its near Finland). Anyway its my last year in my university as a law student. Right now im doing my diploma thesis. Its quite a lot reasearch. Last year there were some changes in Estonias court proceedings. To be exact our court proceedings went to be competitive. Arrrgh!!!! I dont even know what is the right term. Its something like " Competitiveness of Court Proceedings "! Hmm! Let me put this another way. Now our DA and attorneys have to fight in court. There are specific rules who and how can cross-examine the witness. If DA may ask questions first he cant ask indirect questions. He may only ask direct questions. With this change judge will see all the materials first time in court (before the change in our law he saw all the materials including evidence way before the court). Anyway because its so new thing in our justice system its impossible to find any literature in my native language. I know that US and lots of other countries have this " Competitiveness of Court Proceedings " a long time. I was hoping that some of you guys could help me. For a start it would be really nice if someone could give me better words than " Competitiveness of Court Proceedings " to google some materials. I just dont know the right term to google what i need. If someone knows any good book about the subject it would be really great if you could give its name... Basically any info or material would be nice....


Sincerely,
Tarmo

 

[Michael Wechsler]

For a start I applogise for my bad english. My name is Tarmo and im 22 years old. I live in Estonia ( its near Finland). Anyway its my last year in my university as a law student. Right now im doing my diploma thesis. Its quite a lot reasearch. Last year there were some changes in Estonias court proceedings. To be exact our court proceedings went to be competitive. Arrrgh!!!! I dont even know what is the right term. Its something like " Competitiveness of Court Proceedings "! Hmm! Let me put this another way. Now our DA and attorneys have to fight in court. There are specific rules who and how can cross-examine the witness. If DA may ask questions first he cant ask indirect questions. He may only ask direct questions. With this change judge will see all the materials first time in court (before the change in our law he saw all the materials including evidence way before the court). Anyway because its so new thing in our justice system its impossible to find any literature in my native language. I know that US and lots of other countries have this " Competitiveness of Court Proceedings " a long time. I was hoping that some of you guys could help me. For a start it would be really nice if someone could give me better words than " Competitiveness of Court Proceedings " to google some materials. I just dont know the right term to google what i need. If someone knows any good book about the subject it would be really great if you could give its name... Basically any info or material would be nice....

Tarmo - thanks for posting. I think I understand what you are trying to say -- you want to understand the theory behind how the "adversarial system" of court works. An "adversary" is your enemy or opponent, and in talking about the court system it is the word to describe the "battle" between prosecutor and defender. You may also want to do research on "legal method" which is a good term.

In essence, there are good reasons why you can only ask "direct" questions of your own witness, which to non-lawyers it means you can't "lead" your witness. You can ask your witness "where did you go on Sunday" but you can't ask "what time did you go to the store on Sunday" until the witness first states that the witness went to the store, the answer to the first question. If it is a hostile witness, a witness who is not your own, you may be able to ask such questions like "didn't you go to the store on Sunday?" The witness can always answer no.

I remember reading a book "Understanding Criminal Law" by Leaffer which gave a great explanation of how the criminal law process works and explains a great deal about theories both in court and also with regard to legislature and the motivations for doing so. This would be an enjoyable read and I hope you can get it in your native language. Good luck and let us know how we can help!

 

[janx4u]

Thank you thelawprofessor! I think you underestood correctly what i was going after. Now it try to use those terms. Also from now on i can look inside some books at Amazon.com so if you know some good books to recommend then just go ahead. I hope i everything goes "ok" with my graduation thesis. I have never made so much research in my life so its quite hard...


Sincerely,
Tarmo