30 March 1804

Forthcomingness

Ch. Investigatory

§.2. Permanence.

§32 Permanence of session necessary to an investigatorial tribunal. Rule 1. To be competent to the purpose /business/ of investigatorial procedure - to be competent to the degree in which it might and ought to be made competent, every court of original jurisdiction can not but must be permanent: its sittings must be and is continued.

Reasons A chain of indicative evidence may be of any length: the [..?] it is composed of may be in any number: the time necessarily or eventually consumed in travelling from link to link between the examination of first indicative witness, and the examination of the witness whose testimony is found capable of being employed in the character of ultimate evidence, may b any length of time. In the course of that time it amy happen as well to the evidence of such ultimate witness as to the evidence of any intermediate witness to have perished. A witness who is not examined at this or that particular point of time, may not be to be examined at any other point of time. Reasons [..?] to the fountainhead. In case of non-existence or discontinuity of competent tribunal.

Principals. 1. danger of injustice by deposition of evidence. 2. Collateral injustice certain, in the shape of vexation, expence and delay.

Rule 2. As there is no tribunal of original jurisdiction, to which it may not happen to be called upon to proceed in the way of investigatorial procedure, for this, not to speak of other reasons every court of original jurisdiction ought to be permanent: its sittings ought to be undiscontinued.

Rule 3. In so far as it may happen to the same witness to be subjected to more than one examination in relation to the same fact - viz: once or oftener in the character of an indicative witness, for the purpose of extracting from him testimony of the indicative kind, and again in the character of an ultimate witness, hence it is desirable that the same Judge by whom or in whose presence such testimony is extracted in the first instance, should be /the judge by whom or in whose/ presence it is extracted in every other instance.

1. Reasons. 1. Of the circumstantial evidence /psychological/ of the psychological kind in various shapes will naturally be afforded on a first examination, a great part will be apt to disappear to vary or lose more or less of its trustworthiness or impressive force on any subsequent occasion.

Deportment - clearness or confusion of mind, verirality[?] or mendacity as and [...?] by countenance, voice and gesture