What does leading mean in court?

LEADING questions are those put to a witness in court by a lawyer.

They have a very specific role and are only allowed at certain stages of a trial. So what does leading mean in court?

What does leading mean in court?

When a lawyer or someone else suggests answers to the witness in the form of a question, that is called leading the witness.

An example of this would be as follows: “Isn’t it true, Mrs. Smith, that the moment you saw the tall figure sprinting from the house, you instantly thought it was Bobby?”

The answer would require a yes or no answer.

Leading questions therefore allow the lawyer to provide testimony under the cover of asking questions.

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This is instead of encouraging or compelling the supposed witness to provide his or her own testimony.

Non-leading questions and leading questions have stark differences when compared.

'What colour was the car?' Would not be a leading question.

But asking 'and then you saw a red car, right?' is a leading question.

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By encouraging witnesses to just agree, leading questions bias the answers.

Leading questions are not allowed during direct examination of a witness.

That is why the opposing lawyer is supposed to object.

But they are allowed during cross-examination of a witness.

Leading questions are also allowed when dealing with preliminary matters and when there is difficulty eliciting testimony from a witness.

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When a hostile or adverse witness is being questioned, leading questions are allowed, too.

They ultimately allow lawyers to quickly cut through to paint a clearer picture of what a person witnessed.

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