Law Commons^™

Evidence -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Lyman R. Patterson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The doctrine of judicial notice is that an indisputable proposition of fact or a proposition of law of the jurisdiction is not subject to proof. The doctrine thus serves to relieve the litigant of the burden of proving certain facts and law, and is one of immense theoretical implication for the trial lawyer. A fact which is judicially noticed has much greater probative value than a fact which is proved, no matter how strong the proof. Judicial notice thus offers the trial lawyer an extremely effective, but apparently largely unused, device in litigation. None of the cases involving judicial notice …

Procedure And Evidence -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Construction of Pleading--Where the plaintiffs bill of complaint for specific performance of a contract for the purchase of a specified parcel of realty discloses on its face that the agreement was oral, the defendant may raise the defense of the statute of frauds by demurrer.'

Burden of Proof and Presumptions--The current decisions do little to clear up the confusion caused by the use of the term presumption, though it is usually not too difficult to determine the effect intended to be given it in a particular case.

Judicial Notice--The cases in which the Tennessee courts have applied the doctrine of …

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 …

Procedure And Evidence -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Generally: The strict rules of pleading are not applicable in a will contest,' which is a proceeding sui generis and regulated by statute. Demurrer. A demurrer to a cross-bill in chancery on the ground that it "states no cause of action upon which relief can be granted" is a nullity, and should be stricken on motion.

Plea in Abatement: Where the chancellor upon hearing a plea inabatement of another action pending for the same cause, found that the cause was substantially the same, and granted plaintiff permission to file the bill in the later suit as an amended or supplemental …

Judicial Notice, Charles T. Mccormick

Vanderbilt Law Review

The traditional Anglo-American system of proof demands rigorous guaranties of accuracy, with its requirement of witnesses having first-hand knowledge, its mistrust of hearsay, however reliable, except for narrow exceptions, and its insistence upon original documents and their authentication by witnesses. These requirements have their roots in the contentious or adversary system, where the party and not the judge is responsible for gathering and presenting facts, and in the method of jury trial. But this strict though scientific insistence upon proving everything at first hand is, like jury-trial itself, enormously costly in time, energy and money. The principal effect of the …