wn by two
straight dashes with dots, thus --:--
The personality of a writer can never be wholly separated from his
works. And in any question of date or authenticity of a document being
called in dispute, the value of graphology and its theories will be
found of the utmost importance, for the various changes in the style
of handwriting, or in the spelling of words, although, perhaps, so
minute and gradual as seldom to be remarked, are, nevertheless, links
in a chain which it would be extremely hard to forge successfully so
as to deceive those acquainted with the matter as well as versed in
its peculiarities.
See specimens of handwriting in Appendix with descriptions thereof.
CHAPTER XIX
HANDWRITING EXPERTS AS WITNESSES
Who May Testify As An Expert--Bank Officials and Bank Employees 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.
While the qualification necessary for the permission of a witness to
testify in court as an expert is largely discretionary with the judge,
such discretion is usually exercised with so great liberality that it
is not often that a witness offered
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