Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
Truth-Bonding And Other Truth-Revealing Mechanisms For Courts, Robert D. Cooter, Winand Emons
Truth-Bonding And Other Truth-Revealing Mechanisms For Courts, Robert D. Cooter, Winand Emons
Robert Cooter
In trials witnesses often slant their testimony in order to advance their own in- terests. To obtain truthful testimony, the law relies on cross-examination under threat of prosecution for perjury. We show that perjury law is an imperfect truth- revealing mechanism. Moreover, we develop a truth-revealing mechanism for the same set of restrictions under which perjury rules operate. Under this mechanism the witness is sanctioned if a court eventually finds that the testimony was incor- rect; the court need not determine that testimony was dishonest. We explain how truth-revealing mechanisms could combat distortions of observations by factual witnesses and exaggerations …