Irving Younger’s 9 Pigeonholes of Impeachment

The nine pigeonholes are:

Competence
1. Oath
2. Perception of events (ie seeing, hearing, perceiving etc)
3. Recollection of events (ie memory)
4. Communication (ie ability to give evidence to Court; use of words characteristic to witness (‘antidisestablishmentarianism’))

Credibility
5. Bias/interest/prejudice/corruption
6. Prior convictions (as to credibility: but note Evidence Act s 138)
7. Prior ‘bad acts’
8. Prior inconsistent statements

Proof
9. Other witness giving evidence that casts doubt on credibility of this witness (not relevant in Australian law)

Leave a Reply