questions or not. The judge also has the power to ask further questions be thop proposed by the parties, if that is necessary for establishing the truth. The usual practice in most law countries is that witness testimony in recorded verbatim, but the judge dictates a summary of the testimony into the dossier in the judge's own words. In common law, this practice would be considered as a denial of basic procedural fairness. Another important difference between common law and civil law, in relation to the tness evidence, is so-called "preparation of witnesses". In common law, counsel would normally "prepare" their witnesses for the hearing in order to avoid surprises during the trial and to make sure that the witness statements are accurate ivil preparation of witnesses is strictly forbidden. The attorneys are normally not allowed to discuss the issues related to trial with witnesses out of court and may face disciplinary sanctions if they breach this rule. If the judge is informed that a witness was questioned by the attorney before the trial, the witness' testimony may not be ven full credibility E Court Experts and Expert Witnesses The courts often invite experts in certain fields to give testimony on the facts which require highly technical knowledge, such as engineers, physicians accountants handwriting experts, etc. They are considered as witnesses whose task is to provide the court with information related to a specialized area In common law, the experts are appointed and paid by the parties. Therefore, the experts are usually partial and their task is to support the position of the party who appointed them. Like other witnesses, they are examined and cross-examined by attorneys On the other hand, the experts in a civil law trial are not considered as witnesses and they are usually called "court's experts". The court experts are appointed by the court, not by the parties, and they are expected to be impartial. The courts often rely on expert opinion, and many cases are decided mainly on the basis of expert evidence. The expert i usually instructed by the court to prepare a written opinion, which is then circulated to the attorneys. The attorneys may interrogate the expert at a hearing. If one of the parties objects to the expert opinion, or the court finds the expert's report unsatisfactory, the court may appoint another expert. A party may propose a particular expert but the court may reject 45 this proposal and select another expert