Evidence Commons^™

A Subject Matter Approach To Hearsay Reform, Roger C. Park

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Child Witness: Techniques For Direct Examination, Cross-Examination, And Impeachment, John E.B. Myers

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Loss Of Innocence: Eyewitness Identification And Proof Of Guilt, Samuel R. Gross

Articles

It is no news that eyewitness identification in criminal cases is a problem; it is an old and famous problem. Judges and lawyers have long known that the identification of strangers is a chancy matter, and nearly a century of psychological research has confirmed this skeptical view. In 1967 the Supreme Court attempted to mitigate the problem by regulating the use of eyewitness identification evidence in criminal trials; since then it has retreated part way from that effort. Legal scholars have written a small library of books and articles on this problem, the courts' response to it, and various proposed …

Edward L. Barrett, Jr.: The Critic With 'That Quality Of Judiciousness Demanded Of The Court Itself', Yale Kamisar

Articles

Barrett was as talented and as dedicated a law teacher as any of his distinguished (or soon-to-become-distinguished) contemporaries. But Barrett resisted the movement toward new rights in fields where none had existed before. At least, he was quite uneasy about the trend. To be sure, others in law teaching shared Barrett's concern that the clock was spinning too fast. Indeed, some others were quite vociferous about it.' But because his criticism was cerebral rather than emotional - because he fairly stated and fully explored the arguments urging the courts to increase their tempo in developing constitutional rights - Barrett was …

Implied Hearsay: Defusing The Battle Line Between Pragmatism And Theory, Ronald J. Bacigal

Law Faculty Publications

A return to the emotionally neutral fundamentals of the hearsay rule presents the clash between pragmatists and academicians in a setting which is free of the value laden considerations surrounding child abuse cases. This clash arises at the most fundamental level, that of defining hearsay. Many academicians favor a definition of hearsay as evidence whose reliability depends upon the veracity of someone not subject to cross-examination. Pragmatists (particularly trial lawyers) often find this formulation awkward and prefer a concise definition of hearsay as an out-of-court statement offered for the truth of the contents. The choice of definitions can make a …

Media Access To Tape-Recorded Evidence In Criminal Trials, Lisa Kahaty Starczewski

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Substantive Admissibility Of A Non-Party Witness' Prior Inconsistent Statements: Pennsylvania Adopts The Modern View, Jennifer L. Hilliard

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Evidence - North Carolina Allows Admission Of The Unthinkable: Hearsay Exceptions And Statements Made By Sexually Abused Children - State V. Smith, Benita A. Lloyd

Campbell Law Review

This Note will discuss how the court's decision to expand the traditional hearsay exceptions under Rule 803 ranks in effectiveness with other methods which allow into evidence hearsay statements of a child victim. While Smith does not provide admission of all critical hearsay statements made by sexually abused children, the decision goes a long way in allowing North Carolina courts to admit the unthinkable.

Johnson V. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara County, California, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Repuation And Character In Defamation Actions, Charles W. Ehrhardt

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Exclusionary Rule: Not The "Expressed Juice Of The Woolly-Headed Thistle", Keith A. Fabi

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Proof Of Statistical Significance Relevant?, D.H. Kaye

Washington Law Review

This article examines the status of significance testing in litigation. Part I describes the case law on the need for the procedure. Part II explains the nature and terminology of hypothesis testing as used in court. Part III enumerates some of the problems that arise in these forensic applications, and Part IV pursues one such problem-that of selecting a "significance level." These sections show that explicit hypothesis testing is poorly suited for courtroom use. Statements as to what results are or are not "statistically significant" should be inadmissible. Part V suggests the use of other statistical tools and terms that …

Judicial Notice: An Essay Concerning Human Misunderstanding, E. F. Roberts

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Articles limning the law pertaining to judicial notice are legion, and the footnotes which have been cite checked by generations of law review editors must number in the thousands. These articles assume that reason, properly employed, produces correct answers. They assume that disagreements can be resolved by reason, because it is self-evident that any problem, once identified, can be solved. Reflected here are the presuppositions of lawyers brought up in the Western legal tradition.

What if one were to doubt that reason necessarily governed the behavior of lawyers? What if one doubted as well that all problems were susceptible to …

Tests Of Contractual Integration

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Polygraph Protection Act Of 1985: Bobbing Pinocchio's New Nose?

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

18 U.S.C. § 3501 And The Admissibility Of Confessions Obtained During Unnecessary Prearraignment Delay, Matthew W. Frank

Michigan Law Review

Part I thus argues that the admissibility of post-sixth-hour confessions is governed by Mallory, under which a voluntary confession is inadmissible if, but only if, it follows a period of unnecessary delay. Part II addresses a possible objection to this conclusion - namely, that, with limited exceptions, subsection 350l(c) renders all post-sixth hour confessions inadmissible without regard to the reasonableness of the prearraignment delay. This interpretation is derived by negative implication from the proviso in subsection 350l(c) and would require courts to suppress confessions even though there has been no unnecessary delay, and even though the confessions would be …

The Perils Of Privilege: Waiver And The Litigator, Richard L. Marcus

Michigan Law Review

Waiver can be made less tricky, although it will never yield algebraic accuracy. Focusing on civil litigation, this article develops a framework for waiver decisions. It begins by stressing a factor that others have neglected - the costs generated by broad traditional waiver rules. These costs result largely from changes in lawyer behavior to reduce waiver risks. Thus, enormous energy can be expended to guarantee that privileged materials are not inadvertently revealed in discovery, and lawyers may adopt elaborate witness preparation strategies in order to prevent witnesses from seeing privileged materials. Judges also feel the burden; where waiver is at …

Interlocutory Appeal Of Preindictment Suppression Motions Under Rule 41 ( E ), Clifford A. Godiner

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that preindictment rulings denying 41(e) motions are not immediately appealable. Part I discusses decisions that mandate dismissal of such appeals for want of jurisdiction. Part II examines the policy rationales behind these precedents. Finally, Part III argues that an adequate remedy exists outside of rule 41(e), rendering immediate appellate review of rulings on 41(e) motions unnecessary.

Chao V. State, 478 So. 2d (Fla. 1985), George C. Matlock

Florida State University Law Review

Criminal Law/Evidence-ADMISSIBILITY OF THIRD-PARTY TESTIMONY ON OUT-OF-COURT STATEMENTS MADE TO A WITNESS THROUGH AN INTERPRETER

The Cost Of Acceptability: Blue Buses, Agent Orange, And Aversion To Statistical Evidence, Neil B. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On The Exclusivity Of The Hague Evidence Convention, John M. Rogers

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

As the world grows smaller and nations become more interdependent, the likelihood that litigation will involve foreign property, parties, or activities increases tremendously. To prepare and conduct such litigation, the lawyer may need to obtain information "located" in a foreign jurisdiction: a person located abroad may know the information; documents located abroad may contain the information; or the information may describe conditions or property located abroad. The question of when relatively burdensome, internationally-approved methods of obtaining such information must be used thus becomes more and more important.

Consider a product liability suit for damages in the United States arising from …

Admission Of Evidence Of Other Misconduct In Washington To Prove Intent Or Absence Of Mistake Or Accident: The Logical Inconsistencies Of Evidence Rule 404(B), Eric D. Lansverk

Washington Law Review

In Washington, the introduction of evidence of other misconduct to show intent or absence of mistake or accident has proven particularly troublesome. Washington courts have made no attempt to delineate the differences between proof of intent and proof of absence of mistake or accident. Nor have they satisfactorily distinguished either of the proofs from a mere showing of propensity to commit crime. By failing to make these distinctions, the courts undermine the letter and spirit of ER 404(b). The lack of clear standards to guide application of the intent and absence of mistake or accident aspects of ER 404(b) leaves …

The New Evidence Scholarship: Analyzing The Process Of Proof, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

When I began teaching evidence seventeen years ago, the field was moribund. The great systematizers of the common law-Wigmore, Maguire, McCormick, Morgan and their ilk-had come and, if they had not all already gone, their work was largely finished. Not only was most of what passed for evidence scholarship barely worth the reading-the same, after all, could be said of many fields of law at most times-but disregarding student work, few scholars were writing regularly on evidentiary matters.

Application Problems Arising From The Good Faith Exception To The Exclusionary Rule, Robert C. Gleason

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Emerging "Victim Factor" In The Supreme Court's Criminal Jurisprudence: Should Victims' Interests Ever Prevent A Court From Overturning A Conviction And Ordering A Retrial?, Roger A. Pauley

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Direct Examination: Some Evidentiary And Practical Considerations, W. Dent Gitchel

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Resolving The Frye Dilemma: A Reliability Approach, Fredric I. Lederer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Policing The Bases Of Modern Expert Testimony, Ronald L. Carlson

Scholarly Works

The expanding array of scientific (as well as some not-so-scientific) specialties available as sources for testimony raises hard questions. Will courts require that the witness' opinions be reasonably based upon trustworthy data? How far must judges inquire into the practice of other experts in the same field prior to allowing the trial witness to proffer an expert opinion? How much of the expert's supporting data will be received in evidence? This Essay addresses these and other important questions affecting the scope of modern expert testimony.

Vii. Evidence

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Extraterritorial Discovery And The Conflict Of Procedural Systems: Germany And The United States, David J. Gerber

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.