The unbearable lightness of being?: shifts towards the virtual trial

This article examines the implications of allowing witnesses to give evidence in trials from other locations through the medium of 'live link'. Academic commentary on this technological aid has to date focused on the impact it has on the defendant's right to cross-examine or the ability to judge demeanour. Whilst these issues are important, this essay focuses on a less commented on implication of live link; its impact on our conception of where and how adjudication takes place. Particular emphasis is placed on the ways in which the courtroom as the prime site of legal practice is in danger of being dematerialized and the effect this is likely to have on the legitimacy of the trial as an authentic legal and public ritual.