(14) Oath helping/self-serving testimony – question designed to elicit testimony that merely bolsters/enhances the credibility of another witness (oath helping) or the witness currently on the stand (self-serving) (13) Character evidence – question designed to elicit testimony that impugns/maligns/damages the general character of another witness or the victim or the accused evidence of poor character of another witness or the victim or the accused may only be introduced to rebut suggestion by opposing counsel of good character of that same witness or victim or the accused (12) Leading the witness - leading questions suggest the particular answer - typically a yes/no response - or contain the information the examiner is looking to have confirmed counsel conducting direct examination of a witness may not ask leading questions only counsel conducting cross examination may ask leading questions direct examination may only consist of open-ended questions (e.g., "Could you please describe to the court what happened next?")
(11) Hearsay - out-of-court statement uttered by someone other than the witness and presented at trial in order to support the truth of the statement asserted hearsay is generally inadmissible at trial as witnesses may not testify about something they were told by another, with several exceptions (e.g., criminal confessions, dying declarations, excited utterances, official business documents, statements against interest, etc.) (10) Privileged information - question that calls for the witness to provide privileged/confidential (legally protected) information such as private communications between solicitor and client, husband and wife, physician and patient, clergy and penitent, etc.
(9) Compound question - two or more questions asked simultaneously by counsel for purposes of transcript clarity, only one question may be posed and responded to at a time (8) Lack of foundation – witness testimony or physical exhibit introduced at trial where uncertainty still exists as to its authenticity or source (7) Irrelevant/Immaterial question - question posed by counsel that does not possess any probative value, meaning the question does not relate to any material issue before the court (relevance) the judge may request an “offer of proof” demanding counsel explain the relevance of the question even where relevance exists, counsel’s question may be disallowed if the prejudicial effect (unfairness) of a witness’s response outweighs the response’s probative value (6) Vagueness - question posed by counsel that is vague and unclear and therefore difficult to respond to (5) Lack of competence - witness does not possess the necessary experience, expertise, training or certification to properly respond to the question posed by counsel in other words, the witness is not a qualified expert in the field
(4) Calls for an opinion/conclusion – question that asks the witness for his/her opinion or conclusion, as opposed to his/her knowledge or information of material issues before the court only qualified expert witnesses may provide their professional opinions or draw conclusions while on the stand
(3) Calls for s peculation – question that asks the witness to speculate, estimate or guess in the absence of certainty
(2) Repetition – questions posed by counsel that are deliberately repetitive and merely being used to badger the witness (1) Badgering the witness - refusing to allow the witness to respond or behaving rudely toward the witness in order to annoy/harass said witness
The following is a list of some of the most common objections heard during criminal trials in Canada. An objection is a protest raised by counsel concerning the legal propriety of (i) a question posed by opposing counsel to the witness on the stand or (ii) the conduct of opposing counsel during his/her examination.