Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

11-27-2007

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Criminal Law & Procedure eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Public Law & Legal Theory; Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournals

Abstract

This review essay discusses Alex Steins recent book Foundations of Evidence Law It focuses on explicating the books general normative framework and then offers a critique of that framework from within the domain of political morality Part I discusses Steins views about the purpose of evidence law and the importance of error allocation Part II explains how Stein derives his normative principles from probability theory Part III discusses the books master principle the principle of maximal individualization Part IV explains how this principle operates along with two additional principles equality and equal best to regulate evidentiary issues Part V evaluates the overall theory in light of two goals that the law of evidence must satisfy to a significant degree in order to be justified in terms of political morality error reduction and the fair allocation of the risk of errors that do occur The critique developed in this essay offers some reasons to question the extent to which Steins theory would achieve either goal The general theme of the critique is that a greater focus on the epistemology of proof would also lead to a more morally justified proof process and thus that the epistemic and moral domains are more intertwined than the book supposes

Download

Share

COinS