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Rethinking Evidence
By
William Twining
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
new chapters on narrative and argumentation, teaching evidence, and
evidence as a multi-disciplinary subject.
• Makes an
important and original contribution to the theory of evidence •
Readable, stimulating, multi-disciplinary and contemporary •
Provides the theoretical background to the very practical companion
book, Anderson, Schum & Twining’s Analysis of Evidence 2nd
edition
Contents
Preface; 1.
Introduction: The story of a project; 2. Taking facts seriously; 3.
The rationalist tradition of evidence scholarship; 4. Some scepticism
about some scepticisms; 5. Identification and misidentification in
legal processes: redefining the problem; 6. What is the law of
evidence?; 7. Rethinking evidence; 8. Legal reasoning and
argumentation; 9. Stories and argument; 10. Lawyers\\\' stories; 11.
Narrative and generalizations in argumentation about questions of
fact; 12. Reconstructing the truth about Edith Thompson: the
Shakespearean and the Jurist (with R. Weis); 13. The ratio decidendi
of the parable of the prodigal son; 14. Taking facts seriously -
again; 15. Evidence as a multi-disciplinary subject.
Reviews
‘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
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