"This case not having been opened has thrown a difficulty upon the Court—without presuming to say it ought not to have been the course, considering the state of the matter; I am thinking of the inconvenient situation in which the Court is placed. Parties, I think, should act upon the law as it stands. The usual course is for the counsel for the prosecution to state the facts without reasoning upon them, and such facts as may lead ones attention to that which may be the real question of law in the case. But if a contrary course is to be adopted, and an opening is to be done without, we shall be in great difficulty at the end of the cause."
An opening statement is generally the first occasion that the trier of fact has to hear from a lawyer in a trial, aside possibly from questioning during voir dire. The opening statement is generally constructed to serve as a "road map" for the fact-finder. This is especially essential, in many jury trials, since jurors know nothing at all about the case before the trial,. Though such statements ma
"If Mr. Attorney in opening does say anything that he ought not to eay, I will correct him, as I would do anybody that does not open things right as they are proved; but pray dont you that are at the bar interrupt one another, it is unbecoming men of your profession to be chopping in and snapping at one another. Go on, Mr. Attorney."
"It is manifestly fallacious to make the opening of counsel the test on the question of what is "the act or transaction which the Crown prosecutes." It is plain that the Court is not at all bound by the statements made by the counsel in his address."
"Do not open that which is not evidence."
"That is the great difficulty in not having an opening speech. If there is a speech without any observations, I think it beneficial."
"What is introductory goes for nothing, but it is in order to explain the evidence."