Evidence Commons^™

Faith In Reason: The Process Tradition In American Jurisprudence, Neil Duxbury

Cardozo Law Review

Even the most cursory survey of the history of jurisprudence reveals a remarkable tendency on the part of legal philosophers to develop concepts, for want of a better word, which are purportedly foundational to the existence of a legal system. Positivists and natural lawyers alike have long been committed to the search for that special concept which stands as the fons et origo of law. Legal philosophers typically frame this search in terms of a quest to discover something singular; and when they do try to conceive of a legal system as founded on a plurality of concepts, their assertions, …

The Proper Role Of After-Acquired Evidence In Employment Discrimination Litigation, Rebecca White, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

A new defense to employment discrimination claims has gained acceptance in the lower courts. Employers who allegedly have discriminated against their employees because of race, sex or age are winning judgments on the basis of after-acquired evidence of employee misconduct. The evidence is “after-acquired” in the sense that the misconduct was unknown to the employer at the time the alleged discrimination occurred but was acquired later, often through the use of discovery devices in the employee's discrimination action. Lower courts have accepted the proposition that if the employer would have discharged the plaintiff on the basis of the after-acquired evidence, …

Abusing The Privilege: The Crime-Fraud Exception To Rule 501 Of The Federal Rules Of Evidence, Ann M. St. Peter-Griffith

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Admitting Confessions Of Codefendants: Has Lee V. Illinois Created An Additional Hearsay Exception?, Christine Noworyta

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of "Bad Faith" Under The Exceptions To The Hearsay Rule, Peter F. Valori

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Experts, Stories, And Information, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

In the infancy of the jury trial, there were no witnesses. The jury was self-informing. Members of the jury were drawn from the community. It was expected that they would know, either firsthand or on the basis of what they had heard, the true facts of any disputed incident, and they were gathered together to say what those facts were. Ronald Allen and Joseph Miller, in their insightful paper, see the ideal of the self-informing jury as very much alive today. Allen and Miller tell us that jurors ideally should experience firsthand the factual information needed to arrive at rational …

Inadequate Interpreting Services In Courts And The Rules Of Admissibility Of Testimony On Extrajudicial Interpretations, Beth G. Lindie

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Yes Or No To Consent? Conforming Rule 404(B) To Society's New Understanding Of Acquaintance Rape, Sheri B. Ross

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Rule Of Evidence 407 As Applied To Products Liability: A Rule In Need Of Remedial Measures, Michele B. Colodney

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Admissibility Of Scientific Evidence: The History And Demise Of Frye V. United States, Lisa Gonzalez

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

United States V. Salerno: An Examination Of Rule 804(B)(1), Judith M. Mercier

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Admissibility Of Other Crimes, Wrongs Or Acts Under The Intent Provision Of Federal Rule Of Evidence 404(B): The Weighing Of Incremental Probity And Unfair Prejudice, Vivian M. Rodriguez

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

False Witness: A Lawyer's History Of The Law Of Perjury, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

From Cain to Potiphar's Wife to the pig and chicken laws of the Lex Salica of Clovis I, Professor Underwood examines the role of the false witness throughout history. Take a voyage extraordinaire and encounter some of history's most notorious perjurers.

Criminal Discovery In Oklahoma: A Call For Legislative Action, Rodney J. Uphoff

Faculty Publications

This article first explores the Allen decision and the extent to which Allen changed the law of criminal discovery in Oklahoma. Next, the article examines some of the theoretical and practical problems with the Allen procedures as well as the efforts of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to address some of the troublesome questions generated by Allen. Finally, the article discusses the need to replace the Allen provisions with a legislative framework that facilitates pretrial access to information and minimizes “trial ambush,” but without compromising the fair and efficient operation of the adversary system.

Evidence, Faust Rossi

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Just The Facts, Ma'am: Lying And The Omission Of Exculpatory Evidence In Police Reports,, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

George Jones's ordeal was the product of, and in turn sheds light upon, police practices of investigating crimes and writing reports. Written police reports of criminal incidents and arrests give details such as the time, place, and nature of criminal conduct; the names and addresses of victims and witnesses; physical characteristics of the perpetrator(s) or arrestee(s); weapons used; property taken, recovered, or seized from the arrestee; and injuries to persons and property. Through their reports, the police "have fundamental control over the construction of [the] 'facts' for a case, and all other actors (the prosecutor, the judge, the defense lawyer) …

In Appreciation Of Jack Burns, Frank J. Macchiarola

Cardozo Law Review

Jacob Burns was a good and gentle man. He did many fine and generous things in his lifetime, but the qualities that best describe him are the personal ones-good and gentle. The gentleness did not mean that he was unable to handle difficult matters or to exert the kind of strength that gave others solace. It meant that through these situations there was a contentment that always reassured the rest of us. The gentleness came from his concern for others and in the way he approached people. It was always thrilling for me to see Jack Burns in the company …

Proportional Liability: Statistical Evidence And The Probability Paradox, David A. Fischer

Vanderbilt Law Review

Numerous writers have proposed modifying traditional tort rules to permit plaintiffs to recover from a defendant who contributed to the risk of causing the plaintiff's harm without proving that the defendant actually caused the harm. These proposals would determine recovery by multiplying the plaintiff's total damages by the percentage chance that the defendant caused the damages, thereby giving her a portion of her damages.

Although these proposals for proportional liability take many forms, they may be divided into three major categories. The "proportional damage recovery" category would permit a plaintiff to recover a portion of her damages only after she …

St. Mary's Honor Center V. Hicks: Interpretation Of Title Vii Takes A Wrong Turn, Teresa C. Postle

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Suspect Population And Dna Identification, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

Forensic DNA analysis typically proceeds by first determining whether alleles (one of two or more alternative forms of a gene) found in DNA apparently left by the perpetrator of a crime at a crime scene (the "evidence sample") match alleles extracted from a sample of the suspected criminal's blood (the "suspect sample"). If alleles drawn from the two sources match, the next step is to provide information about the probative value of the match by estimating the probability that alleles extracted from the blood of some random individual would have matched the alleles in the evidence sample. Thinking in terms …

Daubert's Significance, Thomas G. Field Jr., Colleen M. Keegan

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors review and note the limited reach of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. They also address its implications for concerned non-lawyers.

A New Antidote For An Opponent's Pretrial Discovery Misconduct: Treating The Misconduct At Trial As An Admission By Conduct Of The Weakness Of The Opponent's Case, Edward J. Imwinkelried

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dna, Science And The Law: Two Cheers For The Ceiling Principle, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

The ceiling principle is an intentionally conservative way of estimating the frequency with which individuals who share particular alleles appear in the general population. It establishes frequencies for each allele by taking random samples of 100 individuals from each of 15 to 20 populations and using the largest frequency with which the allele is found in any of these populations or 5 percent, whichever is larger, as an estimate of the allele's frequency in the population of interest. These frequencies are then multiplied to yield an estimate of the likelihood that a randomly selected person would exhibit the same allelic …

Wallace V. Dunn Construction Co.: Defining The Role Of After-Acquired Evidence In Federal Employment Discrimination Suits, Hugh Lawson Iii

Mercer Law Review

In Wallace v. Dunn Construction Co. the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals faced an issue of first impression in the circuit: the role of after-acquired evidence in actions arising under federal employment discrimination statutes, namely Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act. The court held that after-acquired evidence cases in which an employer discovers evidence constituting a permissible reason for discharging an employee after that employee has already been discharged for an impermissible reason are distinguishable from mixed-motive cases in which an employer discharges an employee for several reasons, some permissible and …

Evidence, Marc T. Treadwell

Mercer Law Review

For seven consecutive years, the Mercer Law Review has been kind enough to ask the author to review Eleventh Circuit evidence decisions. While one may question the wisdom of the Review's annual return to the same well, seven years of reading every Eleventh Circuit decision involving evidentiary issues has allowed the author to note what may loosely be called "trends" in the Eleventh Circuit's decisions. No claim can be made that these observations are based on statistical or empirical data; they derive solely from the author's sense of the Eleventh Circuit's direction and predilections over the past seven years.

First, …

Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse: A Survey Of Evidentiary Modifications In West Virginia, Kelley L. Brown

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taking Fact Analysis Seriously, Bernard Robertson, G. A. Vignaux

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Analysis of Evidence: How To Do Things with Facts Based on Wigmore's Science of Judicial Proof by Terence Anderson and William Twining

Intellectual History, Probability, And The Law Of Evidence, Peter Tillers

Michigan Law Review

A Review of "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" ad "Probable Cause": Historical Perspectives on the Anglo-American Law of Evidence by Barbara J. Shapiro

The Residual Hearsay Exception Reconsidered, James E. Beaver

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward A Liberal Application Of The "Close Of All The Evidence" Requirement Of Rule 50(B) Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure: Embracing Fairness Over Formalism, Rollin A. Ransom

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the language and purposes of rule 50 to determine if and when a relaxed application of its requirements is appropriate. Part I considers the terms and goal of the rule and concludes that its purpose is to put the party opposing the motion for judgment as a matter of law on notice of the movant's assertion that the evidence is insufficient as a matter of law, and to provide the opposing party an opportunity to "cure." Part II discusses courts' varying application of the requirement that a motion for judgment as a matter of law made at …