Fair Witness is a fictional profession invented for the novel. A Fair Witness is an individual trained to observe 
events and report exactly what he or she sees and hears, making no extrapolations or assumptions. An eidetic memory 
is a prerequisite for the job, although this may be attainable with suitable training.

In Heinlein's society, a Fair Witness is a highly reputable source of information. By custom, a Fair Witness acting
professionally, generally wearing distinctive white robes, is never addressed directly, and is never acknowledged 
by anyone present.

The character Jubal Harshaw employs a Fair Witness, Anne, as one of his secretaries. Unlike the other secretaries, 
she does not use dictation equipment when Jubal speaks, and can keep track of several works at once, despite 
Harshaw's frequent switching among them.

Fair Witnesses are prohibited from drawing conclusions about what they observe. As a demonstration, Harshaw asks Anne 
to describe the color of a house in the distance. She responds, "It's white on this side"; whereupon Harshaw explains 
that she would not assume knowledge of the color of the other sides of the house without being able to see them. 
Furthermore, after observing another side of the house she would not then assume that any previously seen side was 
still the same color as last reported, even if only minutes before.