Rethinking Evidence: Exploratory Essays

Description

The Law of Evidence has traditionally been perceived as a dry, highly technical, and mysterious subject. This book argues that problems of evidence in law are closely related to the handling of evidence in other kinds of practical decision-making and other academic disciplines, that it is closely related to common sense and that it is an interesting, lively and accessible subject. These essays develop a readable, coherent historical and theoretical perspective about problems of proof, evidence, and inferential reasoning in law. Although each essay is self-standing, they are woven together to present a sustained argument for a broad inter-disciplinary approach to evidence in litigation, in which the rules of evidence play a subordinate, though significant, role. This revised and enlarged edition includes a revised introduction, the best-known essays in the first edition, and chapters on narrative and argumentation, teaching evidence, and evidence as a multi-disciplinary subject.

William Twining is Quain Professor of Juisprudence Emeritus at University College London, and a regular Visiting Professor at the University of Miami School of Law. His writings on evidence include Analysis of Evidence (2nd edn, Cambridge University Press 2005).

'Seeking as it does to adduce and incorporate ... insights from such diverse ... fields as literary theory, psychology, sociology, logic, and many branches of philosophy, this is a singularly important contribution not just to jurisprudence and evidence but to legal and philosophical scholarship as a whole. This admirable and substantial volume is erudite, cogent and persuasive; and is written in a deft, accessible and, above all, readable style.' Dublin University Law Journal ' ... Twining seems a born teacher. His texts are highly accessible although they deal with theories that are sometimes very complicated and abstract ... [I]t is not only the language that makes the text so attractive and accessible, it is also the use of examples and smart, humorous petites histoires.' Professor Hans Nijboer, American Journal of Comparative Law