In the
law of the United States, a
deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for
discovery purposes. It is commonly used in
litigation in the
United States and
Canada, where it is called
examination for discovery, and is almost always conducted outside of court by the lawyers themselves (that is, the judge is not present to supervise the examination). In other countries, testimony is usually preserved for future use by way of live testimony in the courtroom, or by way of written
affidavit.