(DOWNLOAD) "Similar Fact Evidence in Civil Proceedings: Proof Or Policy." by University of Queensland Law Journal * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Similar Fact Evidence in Civil Proceedings: Proof Or Policy.
- Author : University of Queensland Law Journal
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 284 KB
Description
Professor William Twining was fond of quoting the story of Judge Bridlegoose from Gargantua and Pantagruel. (1) Judge Bridlegoose was summoned before the Cour de Cassation to explain a strange decision he had made and he pleaded that failing eyesight must have caused him to misread the dice. This caused the court to ask him to explain his whole process. Judge Bridlegoose explained that he listened to the parties with care and attention, then put all the papers in a bag for three weeks, then rolled dice to decide the case. When asked why he did not just roll dice straight away and spent so much time on listening to and reading the submissions, he said that this was for the sake of formality which lent validity to the proceedings and that in this way the losing party accepted the decision gracefully. The point of the story of course is that there is more to litigation than accurate fact-finding. We hope that litigation will prevent people resorting to force and that losing parties will usually be satisfied that they have had a fair hearing. We would also like the system to be reasonably speedy, affordable and predictable and we criticise when it when it is not. The question then arises whether accuracy of decision-making should be sacrificed to any extent in pursuit of these other policy objectives. On the one hand it can be argued that a pre-requisite for a just outcome is an accurate assessment of the facts; on the other hand it is clear that too much investigation of the facts can lengthen and complicate proceedings and the risk of unwelcome publicity can even deter people from resorting to litigation to protect their rights.
 "Similar Fact Evidence in Civil Proceedings: Proof Or Policy." by University of Queensland Law Journal * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}