Law Commons^™

Particularizing Standards Of Conduct In Negligence Trials, James Fleming Jr., David K. Sigerson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The general principles to be applied by court or jury in deciding whether conduct is reasonable have been examined elsewhere.' The problem to be dealt with here concerns the specific application of the law's standard of conduct to concrete cases. How, that is, may it be shown what a party or his opponent should have done, in the way of taking precautions or the like, in the situation presented by the evidence? What kinds of proof or argument are available to make this showing? When must such a showing be made by proof? Is the jury or court to determine …

Self-Crimination Privilege: "Links In The Chain", Judson F. Falknor

Vanderbilt Law Review

"According to their [the prosecution's] statement, a witness can never refuse to answer any question, unless that answer, unconnected with other testimony, would be sufficient to convict him of a crime. This would be rendering the rule almost perfectly worthless. Many links frequently compose that chain of testimony' which is necessary to convict any individual of a crime. It appears to the Court to be the true sense of the rule that no witness is compellable to furnish any one of them against himself...What testimony may be possessed, or is attainable, against any individual, the Court can never know. It …

The "Fourth Degree": The Lie Detector, Jack Streeter, Melvin M. Belli

Vanderbilt Law Review

Some police departments substitute for evidence the "third degree." It is illegal. Law courts could now supplement oral evidence with a "fourth degree"--the lie detector. It should be legal, when properly operated, when its results are properly introduced and weighed.

Any symposium on evidence ought to include some observations on cross-examination. A 'consideration of the instruments employable in the art of cross-examination should, of course, include a discussion of the instrument, the accepted use of which, some lawyers, and certainly the average layman, believe would make cross-examination unnecessary as to credibility.

The best legally available "lie detector" presently is a …

The Scope Of Summary Judgment Under The Federal Rules, Henry N. Williams

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide that, under appropriate circumstances, either the plaintiff or the defendant may seek and obtain a summary judgment.' The detailed requirements of Rule 56 have been discussed elsewhere, and they will not be discussed herein other than as they aid in delineating the area covered by summary judgments. In determining the scope of Rule 56, the purpose of the rules as a whole must be considered as well as the effect of the discovery procedures of the rules. In addition the summary judgment rule must be explicitly distinguished from a motion for judgment on …

Real Proof I, Jerome Michael, Mortimer J. Adler

Vanderbilt Law Review

The trial of an issue of fact is an epistemic, a logical, and a legal affair. In its epistemic aspect it can be viewed as a process of learning: By means of the trial the jury acquires the knowledge which it must have in order to decide the issue. The analysis of this aspect of a trial is primarily concerned with the different kinds of knowledge and with the various ways in which knowledge is obtained. In its logical aspect the trial of an issue of fact can be viewed as a process of teaching: By their proof and disproof …

A Symposium On Evidence -- Foreward, Orie L. Phillips

Vanderbilt Law Review

This is the fifth in a series of symposia published by the Vanderbilt Law Review on important legal subjects. This symposium covers a number of selected subjects in the field of Evidence. The privilege accorded me of writing this foreword affords me the opportunity to express my sincere appreciation of this excellent symposium and the confident hope that it will be most helpful to students, judges and practicing lawyers.

The term "Evidence" imports the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is established or disproved.' It embraces the rules of law …

Evidence As A Problem In Communicating, Edward W. Cleary

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law of evidence is sagging to the point of collapse under its own weight. It has cracked visibly in the administrative sphere, and what saves it in the courts is probably a rather general ignorance of what is actually between the covers of Wigmore, plus the fact that lawyers and judges often seem to be downright ashamed to push the rules to their logical extremes. Evidence in action is, happily perhaps, somewhat different from evidence in books. Nevertheless, among people who are thoughtful about such things there is general agreement that something ought to be done.

Presumptions In A One-Rule World, Alfred L. Gausewitz

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the 54 years since Thayer wrote the first excerpt, an enormous amount of excellent scholarship has been devoted to presumptions. Yet confusion persists. It may not be presumptuous, therefore, to suggest some causes of confusion more radical than those mentioned by Professor Morgan in the second excerpt quoted above. This is not to say that he has not stated them. In fact he has painstakingly pointed out the fundamental difficulties in a number of articles written both before and after he became draftsman of the Model Code. As draftsman he has had to carry a burden of expounding it …

Some Developments In The Law Concerning Confessions, William Wicker

Vanderbilt Law Review

Our system of administering criminal laws is predicated upon accusatorial rather than inquisitorial proceedings. To maintain inviolate the safeguards consonant with this principle, we have placed upon the State an ever-increasing burden in proving the commission of the crime charged. That this burden has begun to weigh heavily, and perhaps onerously, becomes unmistakably evident from a study of recent developments in the law of confessions.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--RACIAL RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS--ALLOWANCE OF DAMAGES FOR BREACH

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CORPORATIONS--PARENT AND SUBSIDIARY--SUBSIDIARY AS INSTRUMENTALITY OF PARENT WHEN USED TO CARRY ON UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES

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EVIDENCE--ADMISSIBILITY OF CONFESSION--SCOPE OF REVIEW OF COURT-MARTIAL BY COURT OF MILITARY APPEALS

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EVIDENCE--CONFLICT OF LAWS--APPLICATION OF DOCTRINE OF RES IPSA LOQUITUR

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EVIDENCE--DUE PROCESS--USE IN STATE PROSECUTION OF EVIDENCE FORCIBLY OBTAINED BY STOMACH PUMP

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EVIDENCE--ENTRIES IN THE REGULAR COURSE OF BUSINESS--TEST FOR EXTENT OF ADMISSIBILITY UNDER FEDERAL JUDICIAL CODE

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EVIDENCE--HEARSAY--ADOPTION OF LIBERAL ADMISSION RULES OF ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS IN ANTITRUST COURT ACTION

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EVIDENCE--IMPEACHMENT OF ONE'S OWN WITNESS--USE OF PRIOR INCONSISTENT STATEMENTS

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