Evidential Legal Reasoning
Crossing Civil Law and Common Law Traditions

A global overview of evidentiary reasoning with contributions from leading authorities from different legal traditions and four continents.

Jordi Ferrer Beltrán (Edited by), Carmen Vázquez (Edited by)

9781316516997, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 May 2022

328 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.9 cm, 0.807 kg

This book offers a transnational perspective of evidentiary problems, drawing on insights from different systems and legal traditions. It avoids the isolated manner of analyzing evidence and proof within each Common Law and Civil Law tradition. Instead, it features contributions from leading authors in the evidentiary field from a variety of jurisdictions and offers an overview of essential topics that are of both theoretical and practical interest. The collection examines evidence not only as a transnational field, but in a cross-disciplinary context. Each chapter engages with the interdisciplinary themes cutting through the issues discussed, benefiting from the expertise and experience of their diverse authors.

1. Evidence as a multi-disciplinary field: What do the law and the discipline of law have to offer? William Twining
2. New directions for evidence science, complex adaptative systems and a possibly unprovable hypothesis about human flourishing Ronald J. Allen
3. The transformation of Chinese evidence theories and system: From objectivity to relevancy Baosheng Zhang and Ping Yang
4. Truth finding and the mirage of inquisitorial process Adrian A. S. Zuckerman
5. Evidential remedies for procedural rights violations: Comparative criminal evidence law and empirical research Sarah Summers
6. Common law evidence and the common law of human rights: Towards a harmonic convergence? John Jackson
7. Group-deliberative virtues and legal epistemology Amalia Amaya
8. On probatory ostension and inference Giovanni Tuzet
9. Inferences in judicial decisions about facts Michele Taruffo
10. Silence as evidence Hock Lai Ho
11. Sanctions for acts or sanctions for actors? Frederick Schauer
12. From institutional to epistemic authority. Rethinking court-appointed experts Carmen Vázquez
13. Latent justice: Fingerprint evidence and the limits of Adversarialism in England, Australia and New Zealand Gary Edmond
14. Prevention and education: The path towards better forensic science evidence Marina Gascón Abellán
15. Evidentiary practices and risks of wrongful conviction: An empirical perspective Mauricio Duce J.
16 Burdens of proof and choice of law Dale A. Nance
17. Is it possible to formulate a precise and objective standard of proof? Some questions based on an argumentative approach to evidence Daniel González Lagier
18. Prolegomena to a theory of standards of proof: The test case for state liability for undue pre-trial detention Jordi Ferrer Beltrán.

Subject Areas: Civil procedure: law of evidence [LNAC3], Comparative law [LAM], Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA]