Evidence Commons^™

Constitutional Law--Unlawful Search And Seizure--Evidence Obtained Thereby Not Admissible In State Courts, John Templeton Kay Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Abstracts Of Recent Cases, James Kilgore Edmundson Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Procedure - Search And Seizure - Federal Court Injunction Against State Officer To Suppress Illegally Obtained Evidence In State Court, S. Anthony Benton

Michigan Law Review

Federal customs enforcement officers suspected plaintiff of theft from a waterfront pier. In the course of their investigation they searched plaintiff's home without a search warrant and detained plaintiff for questioning without first bringing him before a federal commissioner. Both acts violated the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Defendant, a state officer, although not a participant in the search, was present during the illegal detention at the invitation of the federal officers. Plaintiff obtained an order in federal district court enjoining defendant from giving any testimony or producing any evidence in state criminal proceedings against him with respect to property …

Some Problems Of Evidence Before The Labor Arbitrator, R. W. Fleming

Michigan Law Review

Legal rules of evidence do not, of course, apply before the labor arbitrator. This is not surprising since such rules were developed in connection with jury trials, and do not apply strictly in any tribunal but a jury-court. The whole theory of the arbitration tribunal is that it is composed of experts who repeatedly inquire into a relatively homogeneous kind of cases. Exclusionary rules are hardly required as a precautionary measure. Indeed, as the late Harry Shulman said in his classic Oliver Wendell Holmes lecture at Harvard in 1955, "The more serious danger is not that the arbitrator will hear …

Federal Agency Investigations: Procedural Rights Of The Subpoenaed Witness, Frank C. Newman

Michigan Law Review

This article is designed to help fill a gap in the literature and to warn government attorneys, particularly, about some questionable asides in the Hannah case. We shall not deal with record-keeping requirements or with agency inspections, subpoenas duces tecum, and related search and seizure problems. The focus instead is on the subpoenaed witness; that is, a man who knows that force may be used against him unless pursuant to government command he appears and answers questions. We examine several rights that may protect the witness; and we shall also ask whether the agencies, to discharge their governmental duties, truly …

Federal Agency Investigations: Requirements For The Production Of Documents, Frank E. Cooper

Michigan Law Review

The United States district courts are frequently called upon to decide whether an administrative agency is entitled to enforcement of a subpoena requesting production of documentary evidence which the person to whom the subpoena is addressed assails as an unnecessary and improper inquisitorial investigation.

Neither the statute nor the decision-landmarks though they both are-offers a convenient rule of thumb to guide the district courts in the intensely difficult problems posed by requests for enforcement of administrative subpoenas.

However, an examination of the decisions passing upon such requests does disclose the standards by which the courts apply the three classic tests, …

Evidence- Hearsay-Scope Of Federal Rule 43(A), David K. Kroll S. Ed

Michigan Law Review

The clocktower of plaintiff county's courthouse buckled and collapsed into the courtroom below. Charred timbers were found in the wreckage. Several residents reported that they saw lightning strike the tower five days before the collapse. Plaintiff carried insurance for loss by fire or lightning, and sued the insurers when they denied liability. Defendant claimed that the tower collapsed of its own weight because of faulty design, deterioration, and overloading. To account for the charred timbers defendant introduced into evidence a fifty-eight-year-old newspaper article from the files of the city newspaper describing a fire in the courthouse during its construction. The …

Procedure And Evidence -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this article no mention is made of the numerous reiterations of the rule that in considering a motion for a directed verdict, the trial court must deny the motion where there is any material evidence that would warrant a jury in finding against the moving party. Nor is there noted the many, many applications of the courts' settled practice to deny a petition to rehear which merely reargues matters which counsel insist were improperly decided after argument and full consideration. Again, it must be said that this survey is in most respects a mere "horizontal digest." Thus far the …

Evidence—Wife’S Observance Of Husband With Accomplices Not A Confidential Communication, Joseph Demarie

Buffalo Law Review

Connolly v. Connolly, 9 N.Y.2d 272, 213 N.Y.S.2d 438 (1961).

Evidence—Conduct Of Counsel Is Reversible Error, Louis H. Siegel

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Freeman, 9 N.Y.2d 600, 217 N.Y.S.2d 5 (1961).

Evidence—Character Evidence To Prove Particulaw Relevant Traits Admissible, Robert E. Nicely

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Steinhardt, 9 N.Y.2d 267, 213 N.Y.S.2d 434 (1961).

Evidence—The Court’S Characterization Of Defendant’S Exculpatory Statements As A Confession Not Prejudicial Error, Philip C. Burke

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Crossland, 9 N.Y.2d 464, 214 N.Y.S.2d 728 (1961).

Evidence—Withdrawn Guilty Plea Not Admissible For Any Purpose In Criminal Proceedings, Timothy C. Leixner

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Kingston, 8 N.Y.2d 384,.208 N.Y.S.2d 956 (1960).

Evidence—Error To Introduce Questions Unanswered By Defendants, Buffalo Law Review Board

Buffalo Law Review

Healy v. Rennert, 9 N.Y.2d 202, 213 N.Y.S.2d 44 (1961).

Evidence—Standard For Directed Verdict, Buffalo Law Review Board

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Bianculli, 9 N.Y.2d 468, 215 N.Y.S.2d 33 (1961).

Evidence—Prior Inconsistent Statements To Refresh Recollection And Impeach Credibility, Joseph S. Mogavero

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Melski, 10 N.Y.2d 78, 217 N.Y.S.2d 65 (1961).

Evidence—Expert Need Not Testify As To The Reasons For His Opinion, Patricia A. Leary

Buffalo Law Review

People v. McDowell, 9 N.Y.2d 12, 210 N.Y.S.2d 514 (1961).

Evidence—Evidence Of Disability Benefits Is Not Admissible For Determining Damages, Buffalo Law Review Board

Buffalo Law Review

People v. Spitaleri, 9 N.Y.2d 168, 212 N.Y.S.2d 33 '(1961).

Bills And Notes -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, John A. Spanogle Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee courts decided three cases involving commercial paper this year. The Tennessee Supreme Court decided one case which, unless it is clarified in the near future, may upset principles which were heretofore well-established. Of the two cases decided by the appellate courts, one adopted a rule well-known in other jurisdictions, and the other adopted a sound minority view on a question not settled by the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law.

Contracts -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

I. Offer and Acceptance--Notification of Acceptance Before Notification of Revocation--Duration of Offer with Fixed Expiration Date

II. Implied and Quasi Contract--Claim for Services Where Family Relationship Involved

III. Parol Evidence Rule--Application of Rule to Third Party Not a Party to the Written Instrument--Pre-existing Duty as Consideration

IV. Exculpatory Contracts--Contracting Against Liability for Consequences of Own Negligent Conduct

V. Agreement in Restraint of Trade-Agreement of Seller of Business Not to Compete--Enforcement of Restraint in Area Greater than Required to Protect Purchaser

A Comparison Of Uniform Rule Of Evidence 63(1) And (4) And Virginia Law

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Use Of Blood Tests As Evidence Of Intoxication In Virginia

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Edmund M. Morgan, Sam L. Felts

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor Morgan's subject in this Survey is Procedure and Evidence, the field of his greatest contribution to the law. Its importance cannot be overestimated; for no laws can be better than they actually work in practice. As he emphasizes, the whole purpose of the rules is specifically to define the area of dispute, and to provide the best methods for solving it. In short, the problem, the same for both the practitioner and the judge, is that of mastering the materials of the controversy. Morgan throws a flood of light upon every phase of this problem. Under his extraordinary powers …

Morgan's Role Of Leadership In Evidence Law Reform, Charles T. Mccormick

Vanderbilt Law Review

There are two types of reformer-the meek and insinuating kind that wear down resistance like water falling on a rock, and the scrappy kind that carry the war into the enemy's country. Morgan is of the latter type.Five years active trial practice in Duluth gave him the savor of evidence rules in action.His first campaign for the betterment of evidence law was his work as chairman of a distinguished committee of lawyers, law teachers and judges set up by the Commonwealth Fund to propose reforms in the law of evidence. Under Morgan's leadership the committee "determined to develop a new …

Laying A Foundation For The Introduction Of Secondary Evidence In West Virginia, Wallace Everett Maloney

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence--Admissibility Of Tape Recordings Where Portions Are Inaudible, John George Van Meter

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Practical Difficulties Impeding Reform In The Law Of Evidence, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

"The World Do Move" was the subject of an address by Judge Joseph C. Hutcheson to members of the Association of American Law Schools shortly after the decision of the Supreme Court in Funk v. United States.' He used the opinion in that case as evidence that the courts do likewise even in matters of procedure when legislatures lag. With his usual finesse and subtle sense of humor, he did not specify the rate of motion or mention the magnitude of the movement. The time lapse was a mere 144 years and the memorable advance was from the position where …

Rochin And Breithaupt In Context, James R. Richardson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Modern scientific methods of fact-finding present evidentiary problems of admissibility which are grounded in reliability of the process, validity of the technique employed and desired policy objectives. In the final analysis, these three facets of the problem are all indivisibly interrelated since, in order to determine acceptable policy, scientific process and application of that process must inevitably be considered in the light of the concept of due process even though due process as such may not be posed affirmatively in any particular decision.' Moreover, it must be recognized that these factors will be present in varying degrees of intensity, dependent …

Judicial Notice -- Excerpts Relating To The Morgan-Wignore Controversy, John T. Mcnaughton

Vanderbilt Law Review

Author's Note: These two excerpts are from the author's preliminary draft of his proposed revision of the judicial notice chapter of Wigmore on Evidence. The excerpts are submitted for publication in this Edmund M. Morgan issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review for two reasons: First, because of the important role played by Professor Morgan in the recent development and articulation of the law of judicial notice and, second, because Professor Morgan and Dean Wigmore stand at opposite poles in the argument over judicial notice. At least they do with respect to one significant particular. They do not differ with respect …

Vicarious Admissions And The Uniform Rules, Judson F. Falknor

Vanderbilt Law Review

The admissibility of extra-judicial utterances as "vicarious admissions" under the Uniform Rules of Evidence would be regulated by Rule 63 (8)(a) and Rule 63 (9), quoted in the margin. Adoption of these rules would work substantial changes in existing doctrine; changes which the informed consensus may ultimately deem desirable, but which, nonetheless, appear to deserve somewhat more penetrating discussion than has so far been engendered. I hasten to make it clear that I do not necessarily oppose the proposals; merely that I have some doubts which have not as yet been resolved. One further preliminary word: the proposals of the …