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Full-Text Articles in Evidence

New Juvenile Discovery Rules: Mandatory, Comprehensive, And Streamlined., Joshua B. Kay Jul 2019

New Juvenile Discovery Rules: Mandatory, Comprehensive, And Streamlined., Joshua B. Kay

Articles

The recently promulgated amendments and additions to the civil discovery rules include several changes affecting child protection and juvenile delinquency proceedings.1 The updates should make discovery in juvenile court matters more efficient by clarifying what is discoverable and requiring more timely exchange of information.


Neither Limited Nor Simplified: A Proposal For Reform Of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 222(B), Michael S. Smith Jan 2018

Neither Limited Nor Simplified: A Proposal For Reform Of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 222(B), Michael S. Smith

Michigan Law Review

A limited and simplified discovery system should broaden access to courts, resolve disputes quickly, and expedite relief to injured parties. It should not incentivize procedural gamesmanship or increase the system’s complexity. Regrettably, Illinois’s “limited and simplified” discovery system does both. The initiation procedure for the simplified system, Rule 222(b), creates procedural traps and perverse incentives for both plaintiffs and defendants, and conflicting appellate interpretations of the Rule intensify the problem. This Note examines the flaws underlying the current simplified discovery scheme and argues for reform. It examines simplified discovery schemes in other states to recommend a new system for initiating …


Disentangling Michigan Court Rule 6.502(G)(2): The "New Evidence" Exception To The Ban On Successive Motions For Relief From Judgment Does Not Contain A Discoverability Requirement, Claire V. Madill Jun 2015

Disentangling Michigan Court Rule 6.502(G)(2): The "New Evidence" Exception To The Ban On Successive Motions For Relief From Judgment Does Not Contain A Discoverability Requirement, Claire V. Madill

Michigan Law Review

Michigan courts are engaging in a costly interpretative mistake. Confused by the relationship between two distinct legal doctrines, Michigan courts are conflating laws in a manner that precludes convicted defendants from raising their constitutional claims in postconviction proceedings. In Michigan, a convicted defendant who wishes to collaterally attack her conviction must file a 6.500 motion. The Michigan Court Rules generally prohibit “second or subsequent” motions. Nonetheless, section 6.502(G)(2) permits a petitioner to avoid this successive motion ban if her claim relies on “new evidence that was not discovered” before her original postconviction motion. Misguided by the similarity between the language …


Access To Information, Access To Justice: The Role Of Presuit Investigatory Discovery, Lonny Sheinkopf Hoffman Dec 2007

Access To Information, Access To Justice: The Role Of Presuit Investigatory Discovery, Lonny Sheinkopf Hoffman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

What is the relationship between access to information and access to justice? Private parties obviously have many publicly available points of access to the information they seek in order to file a lawsuit. Lawyers can talk to their clients and other willing witnesses. Documents can be gathered. Specific statutes may sometimes permit information to be obtained before a formal lawsuit is brought. On other occasions, however, information needed or desired will lie solely within the exclusive knowledge and control of another The ability of private parties to compel the production of information, documents, or testimony before litigation rarely has been …


Rape Shield Laws--Is It Time For Reinforcement?, Catherine L. Kello Jan 1988

Rape Shield Laws--Is It Time For Reinforcement?, Catherine L. Kello

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note takes a critical look at civil suits arising from allegations of rape, particularly from the perspective of how these actions run counter to the spirit of rape reform and rape shield legislation. The analysis begins with a brief history of the Rape Shield Law and its intended purposes. Part II then utilizes two cases to outline the current dilemma posed by civil suits that are filed during a pending criminal sexual conduct prosecution. After presenting these cases, Part III considers whether a legislative remedy is required and determines that it is. Part IV then proposes a Model Statute. …


The Ultimate Violation, Todd Maybrown May 1987

The Ultimate Violation, Todd Maybrown

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Ultimate Violation by Judith Rowland


The Battering Parent Syndrome: Inexpert Testimony As Character Evidence, Thomas N. Bulleit Jr. Apr 1984

The Battering Parent Syndrome: Inexpert Testimony As Character Evidence, Thomas N. Bulleit Jr.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note proposes that courts refuse to give further consideration to admitting the battering parent syndrome as evidence in both civil and criminal proceedings arising out of child abuse. Part I of the Note describes the syndrome as it appears in the psychological literature. Part II suggests that current judicial attitudes favor the future admissibility of the syndrome, conditioned only on an improved showing of scientific accuracy. Part III demonstrates that regardless of scientific accuracy, the character evidence rule forbids courts from admitting the battering parent syndrome. Part IV argues that the important policies underlying the character evidence rule override …


Search And Seizure Of America: The Case For Keeping The Exclusionary Rule, Yale Kamisar Jan 1982

Search And Seizure Of America: The Case For Keeping The Exclusionary Rule, Yale Kamisar

Articles

Twenty years ago, concurring in Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Justice William 0. Douglas looked back on Wolf v. Colorado (1949) (which had held that the Fourth Amendment's substantive protection against "unreasonable search and seizure" was binding on the states through the due process clause, but that the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule was not) and recalled that the Wolf case had evoked "a storm of controversy which only today finds its end." But, of course, in the twenty years since Justice Douglas made that observation the storm of controversy has only intensified, and it has engulfed the exclusionary rule in federal …


Opinions And Expert Testimony, John W. Reed Jan 1978

Opinions And Expert Testimony, John W. Reed

Book Chapters

Article VI of the Michigan Rules of Evidence contains the rules dealing with witnesses. Trials bring to mind testimonial evidence. There surely are other kinds of evidence, such as docmnents, guns, automobile tires, chemical substances, and the like. But most evidence comes from the mouths of witnesses, and even demonstrative evidence usually is admitted only after a witness has taken the stand and testified to foundation facts. So it is important and appropriate that we turn to the provisions of the rules that deal with qualifications and credibility of witnesses. I would like to direct your attention to MRE 601 …


Rules Pertaining To Witnesses, John W. Reed Jan 1978

Rules Pertaining To Witnesses, John W. Reed

Book Chapters

Article VI of the Michigan Rules of Evidence contains the rules dealing with witnesses. Trials bring to mind testimonial evidence. There surely are other kinds of evidence, such as docmnents, guns, automobile tires, chemical substances, and the like. But most evidence comes from the mouths of witnesses, and even demonstrative evidence usually is admitted only after a witness has taken the stand and testified to foundation facts. So it is important and appropriate that we turn to the provisions of the rules that deal with qualifications and credibility of witnesses. I would like to direct your attention to MRE 601 …


A Review Of The Proposed Michigan Rules Of Evidence, James K. Robinson, John W. Reed Jan 1977

A Review Of The Proposed Michigan Rules Of Evidence, James K. Robinson, John W. Reed

Articles

On January 6, 1977, the Supreme Court of Michigan entered an order stating that it is considering adoption of the proposed Michigan Rules of Evidence which were submitted to the Court by the committee which it appointed in March 1975. The Court has solicited comments from interested persons regarding the proposed rules. A copy of the Supreme Court's order is published in this issue of the Bar Journal. The proposed rules are published in the January 26, 1977, issue of North Western Reporter, Second Series (Michigan Edition). The purpose of this article is to review in general the background and …


Evidence Problems In Criminal Cases, John W. Reed Jan 1977

Evidence Problems In Criminal Cases, John W. Reed

Book Chapters

The Federal Rules of Evidence, enacted by Congress, became effective on July 1, 1975. Ten states have adopted state versions of the Federal Rules to govern trials in their courts, and about half the remaining states are considering whether to follow suit. Michigan is one of these latter states. Early in 1977 a committee appointed by the Supreme Court of Michigan proposed rules of evidence for Michigan closely patterned on the Federal Rules, and, if all goes well, the Court will promulgate rules for the Michigan courts to become effective in 1977 or soon thereafter. Michigan lawyers should be aware …


Developments In Evidence Of Other Crimes, Nickolas J. Kyser Jan 1974

Developments In Evidence Of Other Crimes, Nickolas J. Kyser

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

If the defendant in a criminal trial has a record of other offenses or is suspected of a number of crimes although charged with only one, the admissibility of evidence of these other offenses can be crucial. Admissibility depends in part on the purpose for which the evidence is offered. For instance, the prosecution is severely limited in its use of evidence of character. Until the defendant submits evidence of his good character, the subject cannot be raised and even after character is put in issue particular acts are not allowed to show character. The defendant's prior convictions may be …


An Eclectic Approach To Impeachment By Prior Convictions, Lawrence A. Margolis Jan 1972

An Eclectic Approach To Impeachment By Prior Convictions, Lawrence A. Margolis

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Almost every state permits persons convicted of a crime to testify in either their own or another person's behalf. Nonetheless, these states allow evidence of a person's prior criminal conviction to be used to impeach his credibility. The use of this method of impeachment in criminal trials has been the subject of substantial adverse criticism; yet, the practice remains widespread. This article first will discuss the problems that arise from the use of prior conviction evidence for impeachment purposes in criminal trials and then will examine several proposals that would restrict the use of such evidence. Finally, the article will …


Searches Without Warrants, Jerold H. Israel Jan 1971

Searches Without Warrants, Jerold H. Israel

Book Chapters

My primary area of concentration today is the search made without a warrant. Studies indicate that 95 percent or more of all searches are without warrants. It is quite understandable, then, that most of the search-and-seizure litigation concerns the validity of searches without warrants.


Evidence--Medical Treatises To Be Admitted As Direct Evidence In Wisconsin--Lewandowski V. Preferred Risk Mutual Ins. Co., Michigan Law Review Nov 1967

Evidence--Medical Treatises To Be Admitted As Direct Evidence In Wisconsin--Lewandowski V. Preferred Risk Mutual Ins. Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant's attorney in a personal injury action sought on cross-examination to impeach plaintiff's physician regarding his determination of the degree of plaintiff's disability by referring to the medical standards set forth in the American Medical Association's Guide to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment--The Extremities and Back. Pointing to the physician's testimony that he had not relied on the Guide in making his evaluation, the trial court sustained plaintiff's objection that such cross-examination was not permissible. On appeal, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the trial court was correct in sustaining the objection in accordance with the established rule that it …


The New Michigan Pre-Trial Procedural Rules-Models For Other States?, Robert Meisenholder Jun 1963

The New Michigan Pre-Trial Procedural Rules-Models For Other States?, Robert Meisenholder

Michigan Law Review

The new Michigan procedural laws are embodied in a revised set of statutes and court rules which became effective January 1, 1963, after a long period of study by a Joint Committee on Michigan Procedural Revision. They abolish an anachronistic distinction between procedures in law and equity, abrogate a scattered, disorganized set of rules and statutes, and create a unified, coherent procedural system.


A Radical Restatement Of The Law Of Seller's Damages: Michigan Results Compared, Robert J. Harris Mar 1963

A Radical Restatement Of The Law Of Seller's Damages: Michigan Results Compared, Robert J. Harris

Michigan Law Review

Conventional doctrine does not address itself directly to the choice among valuation techniques, although the various parochial damage formulae give some clues. Underlying this series of articles is an assumption that the doctrine makes more sense when restated in valuation terms. These articles involve an effort to restate in such terms one sector of expectation damage law-the part that governs cases in which plaintiff is a "seller."


Eminent Domain - Procedure - Relation Of Judge And Jury In Michigan Condemnation Proceedings, John H. Jackson S.Ed. Dec 1959

Eminent Domain - Procedure - Relation Of Judge And Jury In Michigan Condemnation Proceedings, John H. Jackson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The relationship of judge to jury in Michigan condemnation proceedings presents in many ways a merger of some of the problems and questions contained in the relationship of judge to jury in civil trials, and of court to tribunal in administrative law. Theorists as well as the practicing lawyer in Michigan and some other states" may well find in the development of the Michigan condemnation proceeding an interesting example of the growth of a procedure for adjudication, in a context of cross-fire between legislative ideas and judicial interpretation of a constitutional provision.


Evidence-Privilege-Use Of Privileged Accident Report To Refresh Officer's Recollection, David D. Dowd, Jr. S.Ed. May 1954

Evidence-Privilege-Use Of Privileged Accident Report To Refresh Officer's Recollection, David D. Dowd, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a passenger in an automobile, recovered a judgment for injuries received in a collision. Defendants' motion to exclude testimony of the police officer investigating the accident as to admissions of the driver was overruled by the trial court. Defendants contended that the required accident report filed by the defendant driver was privileged by statute, and therefore the testimony of the officer was inadmissible. On appeal, held, reversed on other grounds. It was proper for the officer to testify as to the defendant driver's admissions even if it was necessary for him to refresh his recollection of these admissions …


Evidence- Statutes - Contradiction Of Legislative Journal Entry To Show Date Of Receipt Of Bill By Governor, Emerson T. Chandler May 1948

Evidence- Statutes - Contradiction Of Legislative Journal Entry To Show Date Of Receipt Of Bill By Governor, Emerson T. Chandler

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a tax assessor, sought to recover salary claims against a county, contending that compensation was payable under an act passed by the General Assembly but vetoed by the governor. An entry in the House journal reported delivery of the bill to the governor on March 5. The Assembly adjourned March 13, and the governor vetoed the bill March 28. An official receipt dated March 10 had been given for the bill by the governor's office. The Arkansas Constitution gives the governor five days within which to approve or disapprove the bill. If he fails to act, the bill becomes …


Evidence-Uncontradicted Testimony, Robert L. Cardon S.Ed. Jun 1947

Evidence-Uncontradicted Testimony, Robert L. Cardon S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The great majority of jurisdictions in the United States recognize the rule that in civil cases "clear, positive, direct and undisputed testimony, not improbable or contradictory, given by an unimpeached witness, cannot be rejected or disregarded by either court or jury, unless the evidence discloses facts and circumstances which furnish a reasonable ground for so doing." It is the purpose of this comment to discuss (1) the reasons underlying this rule, and the extent to which it is recognized, rejected or limited in various jurisdictions; (2) the application of the rule to fact situations in jurisdictions where it is recognized.


Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, John S. Pennell Dec 1939

Evidence - Admissibility Of Hospital Records As Business Entries, John S. Pennell

Michigan Law Review

Following the report of the Commonwealth Fund Committee, in which they advocated the adoption of a model act to govern the admission of business entries as evidence, a comparatively small number of states have enacted legislation of this kind, either the model act or an act of similar nature. The extent of this comment is to show: (1) in what states hospital records have been held not to be admissible as business entries, the states where there has been no decision on the subject, and the states where the status of the rule is in doubt; (2) the states where …


Evidence - Municipal Ordinances - Admission Of Evidence Of Enactment When Record Is Silent, Robert E. Sipes Jan 1939

Evidence - Municipal Ordinances - Admission Of Evidence Of Enactment When Record Is Silent, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

In a suit by a village to require the removal of the equipment of an electric distribution company from the streets of the village, the company sought to introduce in evidence a copy of a purported ordinance giving it a twenty-five year franchise. There was no mention of such an ordinance in the record of proceedings of the village council. Held, such evidence is not admissible to show the acts of a municipal council when the records of its proceedings are available. Village of Deshler v. Southern Nebraska Power Co., 133 Neb. 778, 277 N. W. 77 ( …


Practice And Procedure - Direction Of Verdict - Scintilla Rule Nov 1934

Practice And Procedure - Direction Of Verdict - Scintilla Rule

Michigan Law Review

In an action to recover from the defendant gas company damage to the plaintiff's building caused by a gas explosion resulting from a defective pipe, the plaintiff's only evidence to prove the defendant's duty to repair it was that the pipe was used exclusively for the conveyance of the defendant's gas, and that the meters to which the pipe was connected were owned and controlled by the defendant. The trial court, by virtue of the scintilla rule, submitted the case to the jury which rendered a verdict for the plaintiff. Held, the scintilla rule no longer prevails in Ohio, …


Criminal Law And Procedure - "Public Enemy" Statutes - Constitutionality Jan 1934

Criminal Law And Procedure - "Public Enemy" Statutes - Constitutionality

Michigan Law Review

Defendants were convicted of the crime of being disorderly persons within the meaning of section 167, Michigan Public Acts, 1931, No. 328, which provided that "any person who engages in an illegal occupation or business . . . shall be deemed a disorderly person. Proof of recent reputation for engaging in an illegal occupation or business shall be prima fade evidence of being engaged in an illegal occupation or business." Police officers testified as to the reputation of the defendants for being bootleggers, stick-up men, robbers, and murderers. Held, that section 167 of the statute is unconstitutional and void …


Evidence -The Possibility Of Incrimination In A State Jurisdiction Does Not Warrant The Assertion Of The Constitutional Privilege In Federal Proceedings May 1932

Evidence -The Possibility Of Incrimination In A State Jurisdiction Does Not Warrant The Assertion Of The Constitutional Privilege In Federal Proceedings

Michigan Law Review

On indictment for the refusal to give information requested by the authorized revenue agent, the appellee interposed a special plea averring that it would compel him to become a witness against himself in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the federal Constitution which reads, "nor shall any person be compelled to be a witness against himself." Held, the danger of incrimination in a state court was not grounds for asserting the constitutional privilege. United States v. Murdock, 284 U. S. 141, 52 Sup. Ct. 63, 76 L. ed. 83 (1931).


Presumptions - Constitutional Validity Of Statute Establishing Proof Of Reputation As Prima Facie Evidence Of Commission Of Crime Feb 1932

Presumptions - Constitutional Validity Of Statute Establishing Proof Of Reputation As Prima Facie Evidence Of Commission Of Crime

Michigan Law Review

The rise and sway of the gangster as a menace to American social and economic security has led, of late, to the employment of unique means of combating lawlessness. Faced by a tremendous increase in the difficulties lying in the path of those seeking the conviction of professional criminals for major crimes, the police and prosecutors often turn towards a means of fighting crime originally devised to make life uncomfortable for petty off enders. The enforcement of the pistol laws and the vagrancy statutes against millionaire gangsters, and repeated arrests on suspicion, have been resorted to as a means of …


Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, George Seletto, Edson R. Sunderland, Victor H. Lane, Burke Shartel, George E. Longstaff May 1922

Note And Comment, Edwin C. Goddard, George Seletto, Edson R. Sunderland, Victor H. Lane, Burke Shartel, George E. Longstaff

Michigan Law Review

Carriers - Second Cummins Amendment - It was seven years after the Carmack Amendment of the Hepburn Act of i9o6 before the Supreme Court began that series of decisions, extending from Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U. S. 491 (1913), to George N. Pierce Co. v. Wells, Fargo & Co., 236 U. S. 278 (1915), which directly resulted in the First Cummins Amendment of March, 1915. One has only to read those cases, reviewed in 13 Micn. L. REv. 59o, and other notes referred to in 17 MICH. L. Rzv. 183, to see that the language of the Cummins …


Juvenile Courts And Privileged Communications, Evans Holbrook Jan 1919

Juvenile Courts And Privileged Communications, Evans Holbrook

Articles

In the case of Lindsey v. People, (Colo., 1919) 181 Pac. 531, the Supreme Court of Colorado has held that Judge Lindsey of the Juvenile Court of Denver could not refuse to testify as to a communication made to him by a child who was at the time of the communication suspected of crime and against whom proceedings were later taken in the Juvenile Court. The decision was by a vote of four to three, and a vigorous dissenting opinion was written by Justice Bailey and concurred in by Justices Scott and Allen.