Title
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The article explores the concept of "witness" by looking at the history and tradition of giving testimony in three contexts, legal history, religion, and literary narrative, with the goal of situating lawyers within these traditions. The author's interest in the topic was prompted by years of frustration with the circumscribed role of lawyers in the judicial system's truth-telling enterprise and, more profoundly, by concerns with lawyers' restrained capacity to shape truth in the larger, social-cultural sense. The question asked, therefore, is whether lawyers, who are positioned to witness (as in "behold") so much about society, and have the social authority to witness (as in "attest") to what they have seen, have an obligation, or at least a right, to speak. If so, what are the parameters of this role, what are its roots, and what is the nature of the discursive practice?
Date of Authorship for this Version
September 2006
Keywords
Witness
Recommended Citation
Cook, Nancy L., "Witness" (2006). Roger Williams University School of Law Faculty Papers. Paper 9.
http://lsr.nellco.org/rwu_fp/9
Included in
Arts and Entertainment Commons, Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, Legal History, Theory and Process Commons