ABSTRACT
Most topics concerning the course of testimony are well explained in textbooks, but a warning is needed about the finality of answers to collateral questions. The rule is sometimes expressed in this way, and sometimes by saying that when a witness in cross-examination answers questions on collateral matters, his answers are conclusive. There is quite a common misunderstanding that the effect of this is that once counsel in crossexamination gets a denial of the collateral matter that is being put, he may ask no further questions about it. This is not the case. Counsel may continue to question the witness about the collateral matter if he thinks he is likely to obtain any advantage in doing so. What he cannot do is call evidence in rebuttal if the witness persists in his denial. It is only in this sense that the witness’s answers are ‘final’ or ‘conclusive’.
