Publisher's Synopsis
Since the middle of the last century the English law of evidence has presented a patchwork appearance. From time to time ancient common law rules have been supplemented or, in some cases, replaced by statutory provisions. The development of the law has, however, been pragmatic and unsystematic, leading to many calls for more principled and comprehensive treatment by the legislature. In recent years Parliament has begun to heed these calls with the result that the statutory elements of the subject have increased markedly in ambition and quantity.;This book is designed to meet a need of teachers and students of evidence for an up-to-date collection of the legislation in a convenient form. It presents a selection of the relevant statutes, arranged chronologically for ease of reference, together with accompanying rules of court. Inevitably the selection is to some extent a personal one, but the author has tried to reflect what he believes to be general trends in the teaching of evidence. Thus the scheme established by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 for the obtaining and use of evidence in criminal cases is treated in full, with the additional inclusion of all five of the Codes of Practice issued under the Act. On the other hand, the numerous statutory provisions commonly grouped under the heading "Documentary Evidence" have been largely omitted. They are rarely studied in detail on evidence courses, and the space is better allocated to significant and potentially far-reaching developments such as the powers given by the Criminal Justice Act 1987 to the Director of the Serious Fraud Office and the judges of the Crown Court.
