Editing Witness (section)

==Credibility==
A '''credible witness''' is a person who acts as a witness, including through giving [[testimony]] in [[court]], whose testimony is perceived as truthful and believable.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dowd |first1=Rebecca |last2=Hunter |first2=Jill |last3=Liddell |first3=Belinda |last4=McAdam |first4=Jane |last5=Nickerson |first5=Angela |last6=Bryant |first6=Richard |title=Filling Gaps and Verifying Facts: Assumptions and Credibility Assessment in the Australian Refugee Review Tribunal |journal=International Journal of Refugee Law |date=11 July 2018 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=71–103 |doi=10.1093/ijrl/eey017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Gerald N. |title=The people's law dictionary : taking the mystery out of legal language |date=2002 |publisher=MJF Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=9781567315530}}</ref> Other witnesses may be perceived as less credible, or to have no credibility.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tenney |first1=Elizabeth R. |last2=MacCoun |first2=Robert J. |last3=Spellman |first3=Barbara A. |last4=Hastie |first4=Reid |title=Calibration Trumps Confidence as a Basis for Witness Credibility |journal=Psychological Science |date=January 2007 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=46–50 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01847.x|pmid=17362377 |s2cid=10464801 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92c2910g }}</ref> Assessment of credibility is made of each witness, and is not affected by the number of witnesses who testify.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lehman |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Phelps |first2=Shirelle |title=West's Encyclopedia of American Law |date=2005 |publisher=Thomson/Gale |location=Detroit |isbn=9780787663773 |page=407}}</ref> Several factors affect witnesses' [[credibility]]. Generally, witnesses are perceived as more credible when they are perceived as more accurate and less suggestible.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Newcombe |first1=Peter A. |last2=Bransgrove |first2=Jennifer |title=Perceptions of witness credibility: Variations across age |journal=Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology |date=July 2007 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=318–331 |doi=10.1016/j.appdev.2007.04.003}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leippe |first1=Michael R. |last2=Manion |first2=Andrew P. |last3=Romanczyk |first3=Ann |title=Eyewitness persuasion: How and how well do fact finders judge the accuracy of adults' and children's memory reports? |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |date=August 1992 |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=181–197 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.63.2.181}}</ref>

At [[common law]], the term could be used in relation to the giving of testimony, or for the witnessing of documents.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wong |first1=Anna |title=Looks Can Be Deceiving: The Irrelevance of Demeanour in Witness Assessments |journal=Criminal Law Quarterly |date=2020 |volume=68}}</ref> In modern [[English law]], a credible witness is one who is ''not'' "speaking from [[hearsay]]."<ref name=wordprhase>{{cite book |title=Words and phrases legally defined, Vol. 1 |date=1988 |publisher=Butterworths |location=London |isbn=9780406080431 |pages=373–374 |edition=3rd}}</ref> In [[Scottish law]], a credible witness is one "whose credibility commends itself to the presiding magistrate ... the trustworthiness" of whom is good.<ref name=wordprhase />

===Witnessing of wills and documents===
Credible witnesses must be used to give meaning or existence to certain types of legal documents. For example, in most [[common law jurisdiction]]s, at least two witnesses must sign their names to a will in order to verify that it was executed by the testator.  In [[Canadian law]], a credible witness to a Will means a witness who is not incapacitated by mental deficiency, conflict of interest, or crime.<ref name=wordprhase />