Aids to forensic medicine and toxicology.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Aids to forensic medicine and toxicology. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    find a ' true bill,' the case goes on; but if they ' throw it out,' the accused is at liberty to take his departure. At the Assize Court the medical witness gets a guinea a day, with two shillings extra to pay for his bed and board for every night he is away from home, with his second-class railway fare, if there is a second class on the railway by which he travels. If there is no railway, and he has to walk, he is entitled to threepence a mile for refreshments both ways. Sundays and Bank Holidays do not count, as on those days he is not supposed to require refreshment. Speaking generally, in the Supei'ior Courts the fees which may be claimed by medical men called on to give evidence are a guinea a day if resident in the town in which the case is tried, and from two to three guineas a day if resident at a distance fi-om the place of trial, this to include everything except travelling expenses. People travelling on other people's business usually go first class, third when on their own. If a witness is summoned to appear before two courts at the same time, he must obey the summons of the higher court. Criminal cases take precedence of civil. A medical man has'no rigHl^o^^claiin privilege as an excuse for not divulging professional secrets in a court of law, and the less he talks about professional etiquette the better. Still, in a civil case, if he were to make an em- phatic protest, the matter in all probability would not be pressed. In a criminal case he would promptly' be re- minded of the nature of his oath. No witness on being sworn can be compelled to 'kiss the boakT^The-Oatlis'Act (51 and 52 Vict., c. 46, § 5) declares, without any qualification, that ' if any person to whom an oath is administered desires to swear with up- lifted hand, in the form and manner in which an oath is usually administered in Scotland, he shall be permitted to do so, and the oath shall be administered to him in such form and manner without further question.' The witness takes the oath standing, with the bare right hand uplifted above the head, the formula being : ' I swear by Almighty God that I will speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.' The presiding judge should say the words, and the witness should repeat them after him. There is no kissing of the book, and the words ' So help