Veritaserum

[Hollydaze]

No: HPFGUIDX 29859

I'm still reading these essays and have found a question that does 
not (as yet) appear to have been updated with an answer:

>From the Essay: Mysteries and Inconsistencies FAQ 

9. Veritaserum 

Why hasn't this potion been used in trials before (couldn't it have 
cleared Sirius Black and validated testimony against certain Death 
Eaters)? Couldn't it have been used to validate the accounts of Harry 
and Dumbledore at the end of GoF? 

Yahoo Club Messages: 6740, 6745, 6746 

There are actually things VERY similar to this in the Muggle world, 
not just lie detectors but truth potions, things you can take to get 
the truth out of someone (saw it on the news regarding terrorists) 
but they are not used that often because of some law or something 
that means that if you force the truth out of someone with a potion 
like this then that evidence can not be used in a court of Law (sorry 
they never said why) something to do with it not being given 
willingly, maybe there is a similar law in the Wizard world.

Just to make this straight, this is not really disproved at the end 
of book 4. Dumbeldore says that Fudge would like to use the serum to 
get evididence, but that would be to do with LV coming back not to do 
with Crouch being a death eater because they already KNEW he was a 
deatheater (his trial, going to Azkaban etc) so therefore it could be 
used in that instance, it would also explain why no one has thought 
to use it on Harry to see if what he says he saw is true (which we 
know it is but most of the characters in the books -especially fudge- 
probably have some doubt about) as anything he did say could not then 
be used to prosecute people.

HOLLYDAZE!!!