Law Commons^™

Haack On Legal Proof, Richard Wright

All Faculty Scholarship

In this paper I discuss Susan Haack’s illuminating discussion and constructive critique of the current confusion regarding the standards of proof employed in the law, focusing especially on mathematical probability rather than warranted belief interpretations of those standards. At the end, I question Haack’s claim that statistical evidence is relevant not only for establishing the existence of a causal process but also, although usually insufficient by itself, for proving actual causation in a specific case.