Work--Rules for Its Study--Links in a Chain That Cannot be
Hidden--A Person's Writing a Surer Index to Character Than His Face


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