Contents:
Introduction to evidence and evidence rules
Origins and organizing principles of evidence law
The origins of a rational system of evidence law
The origins of contemporary evidence scholarship
The "organizing principles" of evidence law
Evidence and gender
Statutory interpretation
Logical relevance
Conditional logical relevance
The validation of scientific evidence
The validity of non-scientific expert testimony
The concept of "legal relevance"
The role of judicial discretion in the legal relevance doctrine
The history and theory of privilege law
Privileges under the federal rules of evidence
An alternate theory of privileges
Exceptions to privileges
Spousal immunity
Other extrinsic social policy and the law of evidence
Character evidence: General considerations
The logic
The psychological assumptions
Specific problems
Evidence of defendant's character in sex-related crimes
The sexual history of rape victims
Characater and credibility
Hearsay
The definition of hearsay
Admissible hearsay
Admissions
Spontaneous statements
The Hillmon doctrine
Records and reports
Child sexual abuse and confrontation
Reform of the hearsay system
The cumulative legal sufficiency of the evidence
Presumptions
The validity of adapting statistical techniques to use at trial
The wisdom of relying on statistical evidence to satisfy the burden of proof.