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The questioning of a witness by the party that called that witness or, more often, by that party's advocate. In a criminal trial, examination-in-chief is typically carried out orally and, as far as possible, in open court (see SpecialMeasuresForWitnesses). In a civil hearing, examination-in-chief has now largely been replaced by the presentation of written statements.
During examination-in-chief, advocates are forbidden from asking LeadingQuestions, mostly because these tend to give the impression that certain facts are accepted, when they remain at issue. In addition, advocates are discouraged from asking questions whose answers would be inadmissible as evidence (because, for example, they amount to hearsay; see also AdmissibilityOfEvidence), or which serve only to bolster the credibility of the witness (see SelfServingStatement).
A party that calls a witness will, of course, hope and expect that the witness will given evidence that is favourable to his case (the jargon term for this is `come up to proof'). However, unless the witness is declared hostile (see HostileWitness), a party is not usually permitted to seek to undermine the credibility of his own witness (see also UnfavourableWitness).
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