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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Nature And Purpose Of Evidence Theory, Michael S. Pardo
The Nature And Purpose Of Evidence Theory, Michael S. Pardo
Vanderbilt Law Review
pproximately twenty-five years ago, Professor Richard Lempert, reflecting on the then-current state of evidence scholarship, noted a dramatic shift underway.' He described what had become a largely "moribund" field giving way to a burgeoning "new evidence scholarship." The scholarship in the moribund phase employed "a timid kind of deconstructionism with no overarching critical theory," was "seldom interesting," and any "potential utility" was "rarely realized"; Lempert proposed the following mock article title as a model representing the genre: "What's Wrong with the Twenty-Ninth Exception to the Hearsay Rule and How the Addition of Three Words Can Correct the Problem." By contrast, …
Reconceptualizing The Burden Of Proof, Edward K. Cheng
Reconceptualizing The Burden Of Proof, Edward K. Cheng
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The preponderance standard is conventionally described as an absolute probability threshold of 0.5. This Essay argues that this absolute characterization of the burden of proof is wrong. Rather than focusing on an absolute threshold, the Essay reconceptualizes the preponderance standard as a probability ratio and shows how doing so eliminates many of the classical problems associated with probabilistic theories of evidence. Using probability ratios eliminates the so-called Conjunction Paradox, and developing the ratio tests under a Bayesian perspective further explains the Blue Bus problem and other puzzles surrounding statistical evidence. By harmonizing probabilistic theories of proof with recent critiques advocating …
Music And Emotion In Victim-Impact Evidence, Emily C. Green
Music And Emotion In Victim-Impact Evidence, Emily C. Green
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Aristotle famously said that the "law is reason free from passion," and nothing arouses passion better than music. Thus, when victim-impact evidence evolved from simple oral statements to include photographs, video footage, and musical clips, scholars and judges alike expressed concern that music might be too emotional and may make it difficult for the jury to make a rational decision based on logic rather than feeling. Recent scholarship in the field of law and emotion, however, notes that emotions are inevitable in law and further suggests that these emotions can be used constructively in the legal system. Thus, musically induced …
Book Review: Burden Of Proof: A Review Of Math On Trial, Paul H. Edelman
Book Review: Burden Of Proof: A Review Of Math On Trial, Paul H. Edelman
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In Math on Trial, Leila Schneps and Coralie Col mez write about the abuse of mathematical argu ments in criminal trials and how these flawed arguments "have sent innocent people to prison" (p. ix). Indeed, people "saw their lives ripped apart by simple mathematical errors." The purpose of focusing on these errors, despite mathematics' "relatively rare use in trials" (p. x), is "that many of the common mathematical fallacies that pervade the public sphere are perfectly represented by these trials. Thus they serve as ideal illustrations of these errors and of the drastic consequences that faulty reasoning has on real …
Being Pragmatic About Forensic Linguistics, Edward K. Cheng
Being Pragmatic About Forensic Linguistics, Edward K. Cheng
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article aims to provide some legal context to the Authorship Attribution Workshop (“conference”). In particular, I want to offer some pragmatic observations on what courts will likely demand of forensic linguistics experts and tentatively suggest what the field should aspire to in both the short and long run.