A witness box or witness stand is part of a courtroom. It is the section of the room set aside for witnesses to stand or sit in while giving their testimony or presenting evidence. In U.S. English, it is known as the witness stand or merely the stand.
Historically, witness boxes have been elevated well above floor level (although below the height of the Bench, where the judge sits). Before the Separation of church and state, trials were sometimes held in churches. In such cases, the witness stood at the pulpit behind the bar.
In modern courtrooms, witness boxes tend to be only slightly elevated.
Famous quotes containing the words witness and/or box:
“Someone said: “There are two people to whom I have never given a lot of thought: that bears witness to my love for them.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The distant box is open. A sound of grain
Poured over the floor in some eagerness we
Rise with the night let out of the box of wind.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)