The Internationalisation of Criminal Evidence

Although there are many texts on the law of evidence, surprisingly few are devoted specifically to the comparative and international aspects of the subject. The traditional view that the law of evidence belongs within the common law tradition has obscured the reality that a genuinely cosmopolitan law of evidence is being developed in criminal cases across the common law and civil law traditions. By considering the extent to which a coherent body of common evidentiary standards is being developed in both domestic and international jurisprudence, John Jackson and Sarah Summers chart this development with particular reference to the jurisprudence on the right to a fair trial that has emerged from the European Court of Human Rights and to the attempts in the new international criminal tribunals to fashion agreed approaches towards the regulation of evidence.

• Proposes a new conception of the law of criminal evidence across different legal traditions that gives students and practitioners a fresh perspective on the topic
• Systematic analysis of the way in which international bodies and courts such as the European Court of Human Rights and the international criminal tribunals have been developing the law of criminal evidence provides students, practitioners and policymakers with a detailed knowledge and critique of the international jurisprudence on criminal evidence
• Examines the impact of international jurisprudence on the law of criminal evidence in both common law and civil systems, thus shedding light on the development of the law of criminal evidence across the common law/civil law divide