Opening statement

Opening statement
A legalman making an opening statement for the prosecution to a jury during a mock trial.

An opening statement is generally the first occasion that the trier of fact (jury or judge) 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 (at least theoretically) know nothing at all about the case before the trial, (or if they do, they are strictly instructed by the judge to put preconceived notions aside). Though such statements may be dramatic and vivid, they must be limited to the evidence reasonably expected to be presented during the trial. Attorneys generally conclude opening statements with a reminder that at the conclusion of evidence, the attorney will return to ask the fact-finder to find in his or her client's favor.

Opening statements are, in theory, not allowed to be argumentative, or suggest the inferences that fact-finders should draw from the evidence they will hear. In actual practice, the line between statement and argument is often unclear and many attorneys will infuse at least a little argumentation into their opening (often prefacing borderline arguments with some variation on the phrase, "As we will show you..."). Objections, though permissible during opening statements, are very unusual, and by professional courtesy are usually reserved only for egregious conduct.

Generally, the prosecution in a criminal case and plaintiff in a civil case is the first to offer an opening statement, and defendants go second. Defendants are also allowed the option of delaying their opening statement until after the close of the prosecution or plaintiff's case. Few take this option, however, so as not to allow the other party's argument to stand uncontradicted for so long.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • opening statement — n: a statement to the jury by trial counsel before the presentation of evidence that usu. explains the nature of the case, the factual matters to be proven, and the evidence to be presented and that summarizes the arguments to be made; also: a… …   Law dictionary

  • opening statement of counsel — Outline or summary of nature of case and of anticipated proof presented by attorney to jury at start of trial, before any evidence is submitted. Speer v. Shipley, 149 Kan. 15, 85 P.2d 999, 1001. Its purpose is to advise the jury of facts relied… …   Black's law dictionary

  • opening statement — A statement to the jury, or to the court in a trial without a jury, outlining the facts intended to be proved. State v Sibert, 113 W Va 717, 169 SE 410. A prefatory statement made in advance of the introduction of evidence, setting forth the… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • opening statement — в ходе устного слушания первоначальная часть выступления представителя, в которой излагаются основные аргументы позиции стороны, которую он представляет. Иногда заменяется skeleton argument или опускается для того, чтобы в рамках отводимого для… …   Glossary of international commercial arbitration

  • opening statement — first remarks, general explanations given by lawyers at the beginning of a trial before calling witnesses …   English contemporary dictionary

  • statement — state·ment n 1 a: an official or formal report or declaration a statement of policy b: an oral or written assertion (as by a witness) or conduct intended as an assertion see also hearsay, prior consistent statement …   Law dictionary

  • Opening — may refer to: Games Chess opening Backgammon opening theory Opening bid, a term from contract bridge Other Grand opening of a business or other institution Al Fatiha, The Opening , first chapter of the Qur an Opening, a morphological filtering… …   Wikipedia

  • opening argument — index opening statement Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • statement — In a general sense, an allegation; a declaration of matters of fact. The term has come to be used of a variety of formal.narratives of facts, required by law in various jurisdictions as the foundation of judicial or official proceedings and in a… …   Black's law dictionary

  • statement — 01. An aide read a prepared [statement] saying that the President would not be answering any questions until he received further information. 02. All general [statements] are false. 03. Our recent financial [statement] shows that we are doing… …   Grammatical examples in English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”