John Henry Wigmore and the Rules of Evidence


Book Description

Honorable Mention, 2017 Scribes Book Award, The American Society of Legal Writers At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States was reeling from the effects of rapid urbanization and industrialization. Time-honored verities proved obsolete, and intellectuals in all fields sought ways to make sense of an increasingly unfamiliar reality. The legal system in particular began to buckle under the weight of its anachronism. In the midst of this crisis, John Henry Wigmore, dean of the Northwestern University School of Law, single-handedly modernized the jury trial with his 1904-5 Treatise onevidence, an encyclopedic work that dominated the conduct of trials. In so doing, he inspired generations of progressive jurists—among them Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Benjamin Cardozo, and Felix Frankfurter—to reshape American law to meet the demands of a new era. Yet Wigmore’s role as a prophet of modernity has slipped into obscurity. This book provides a radical reappraisal of his place in the birth of modern legal thought.










Rules of Evidence


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Evidence in Trials at Common Law


Book Description

Wigmore's great work continues to influence the law of evidence as we move into the 21st century. From doctrinal considerations such as the nature of inference and the exclusionary rules to case analysis involving such lap-to-the-minute controversies as DNA fingerprinting and patient-psychotherapist privilege, this annually supplemented masterwork continues to provide authoritative guidance again and again. With the most comprehensive coverage you'll find anywhere, Wigmore's plan encompasses all this and more: Admissibility -- Relevancy -- Circumstantial evidence -- Character or disposition as evidence -- Opportunity -- Alibi -- Proving capacity, design, or intent -- Proving knowledge, belief, or consciousness -- Proving motive, feeling, or passion -- Proving identity -- Mental derangement or immaturity -- Moral depravity -- Testimonial recollection -- Confessions -- Impeachment -- Proving bias, corruption, or interest -- Contradiction and self-contradiction -- Rehabilitation -- The hearsay rule and its exceptions -- Opinions -- Authentication of documents -- Privilege -- Confidential communications -- Burdens and presumptions.




A Pocket Code of the Rules of Evidence in Trials at Law (Classic Reprint)


Book Description

Excerpt from A Pocket Code of the Rules of Evidence in Trials at Law The historian Judas Maccabaeus, in a preface of two thousand years ago, has supplied a concise and laudable canon for the task of an abridger. All these things, he says, we shall essay to abridge in one volume, with the endeavor to make it attractive to read, convenient to learn, and profitable to use. The object of the present volume is twofold: to provide the practitioner with a handy summary of the existing rules of Evidence; and at the same time to state them in a scientific form capable of serving as a code. The practitioner needs a handy summary. He must impress all rules of procedure into his memory, by frequent re-perusal, so as to have the details familiar at call. He must also have at hand a concise manual for ready reference when memory fails. Those needs the present book aims to meet. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.