Law Commons^™

A Short History Of Hearsay Reform, With Particular Reference To Hoffman V. Palmer, Eddie Morgan And Jerry Frank, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Much of the history of the American law of evidence, including its most contentious issue, hearsay, is the story of stasis and reform. The case of Hoffman v. Palmer represents one of few cases concerning hearsay known by name, and illustrates that “false” evidence has often been used to caution against efforts proclaiming “radical reform” of the law of evidence.

In this case involving a collision between a car and a train, the critical question was: Is the defendant railroad permitted to introduce into evidence the transcript of a question and answer session made two days after the accident between …

Post-Modern Hearsay Reform: The Importance Of Complexity, Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

Progress Is Our Only Product: Legal Reform And The Codification Of Evidence, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Twentieth century reform of the American law of evidence was initially premised on the ideals of legal progressivism, ideals splintered by American legal realism. In preparing the American Law Institute's Model Code of Evidence from 1939 to 1942, Harvard Law School professor Edmund M. Morgan attempted to reconstitute the framework of reform in light of the challenge of legal realism. The Model Code was based on granting greater discretion to the trial judge and changing the goals of the trial from a search for truth to a "rational" resolution of disputes.

Morgan’s decision to emphasize the rational resolution of disputes …

The Law Of Evidence And The Idea Of Progress, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

To ask the question, “Does evidence law matter?,” is often to assume that some sets or groups of people believe it is important while others are challenging that view. However, another assumption regarding the nature of this question is possible—that the question is asked because legal academics believe that evidence law both does and does not matter, and that those academics also believe that these are irreconcilable beliefs. What is of particular interest is how legal academics reached this point and why they believe that evidence law both does and does not matter.

Consideration of these aspects of evidence law …

The Law Whose Life Is Not Logic: Evidence Of Other Crimes In Criminal Cases, James W. Payne Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

It is not the intention of the author to concentrate on generalizations in this article, but an introductory comment of a general character on this topic seems unavoidable. Assume that D is on trial for the rape of his fourteen-year-old daughter. He elects not to take the witness stand, claiming this right under the Fifth Amendment. (a) Could W, an older daughter, testify that D raped her several times when she was fourteen years old? (b) Could the prosecutor introduce evidence of a conviction of D for raping W when she was fourteen years old-i.e., would the foregoing offer of …

Erosion Of The Hearsay Rule

University of Richmond Law Review

Over a quarter of a century ago, the consensus among evidence scholars was that the rules of evidence were in need of thorough reform. Case law had become so confusing and contradictory that the American Law Institute regarded a straightforward restatement of the law of evidence as a practical impossibility. Instead that body decided upon a new proposal which might readily be adopted by the states as a comprehensive set of evidence rules. Its aim was a more sensible and simple guide for trial judge and attorney than the existing rules. Leading scholars and jurists collaborated to produce a Model …

The Hearsay Rule In Federal Criminal Cases - Part Two, Lester B. Orfield

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Civil Procedure-Discovery-Availability Of Attorney-Client Privilege To Corporations, Stephen M. Wittenberg

Michigan Law Review

During the pre-trial stage of a civil antitrust suit, plaintiff sought inspection of certain documents in the files of the corporate defendants' outside counsel. The defendant contended that these documents were protected from discovery by the attorney-client privilege. Upon motion for inspection, held, granted. The attorney-client privilege is not available to any of the corporate parties in this action. Radiant Burners, Inc. v. American Gas Ass'n, 207 F. Supp. 771, aff'd on rehearing, 209 F. Supp. 321 (N.D. Ill. 1962).

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 …

Testimony By A Judge Or Juror, Frederick M. Hart

Faculty Scholarship

Although the early history of the jurata shows it to have been chosen from among those who were familiar with the controversy and parties before the court, it has long been recognized that the better system attempts to obtain jurors and judges who have no prior knowledge of the dispute to be tried. In furtherance of this policy the voir dire exists to eliminate unwanted jurymen and similar devices have been established to provide for the disqualification of judges. In spite of these protections, the situation still occasionally arises where it is discovered after a trial has begun that the …

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 …

The American Law Institute's Model Code Of Evidence, Judson F. Falknor

Washington Law Review

In planning this necessarily brief statement concerning the Code of Evidence which has been approved by the American Law Institute, I found that I was confronted with a considerable problem of condensation. In the first place, what we have here is a Code, and necessarily the draftsmen have undertaken to cover the entire area of the law of evidence. In the second place, the treatment of many existing rules has been radical in character. And finally, it should be mentioned that a controversy arose between the reporter and his advisers on the one hand, and Mr. Wigmore, chief consultant, on …