Author Description

The Seventh Edition of this casebook provides a systematic comparison of the Evidence Code's and Federal Rules' approaches to admissibility of evidence. Transcripts of witness examinations help students visualize the process of presenting and objecting to evidence. The book combines the problem and witness examination approach with text, not cases, that sets out the law of evidence in a clear and concise manner. It discusses major cases and the policies and concepts underlying the rules, not just the rules themselves. The end of each chapter includes the text of the code sections and rules discussed in that chapter. Changes from the Sixth Edition include: (1) Significant revisions of the Questions and Problems to eliminate true-false questions and replace them with real-life hypotheticals that give students an opportunity to argue for and against the admission of specific items of evidence; (2) Reductions in the text regarding the role of 1982's Proposition 8 to reflect the reality that it has made only a few changes in the admissibility of evidence in criminal cases; (3) Revisions of the sections involving Specific Conduct for Non-Character Purposes, to better illustrate the difficulties in using uncharged offenses that are similar to the charged offenses; (4) Division of the Chapter on Impeachment of the Credibility of Witnesses to make it more manageable to teach and less daunting to explore; (5) Inclusion of recent developments limiting the use of hearsay by expert witnesses; and (6) Restructuring of the chapters on privileges by eliminating redundant material and grouping similar privileges together in one chapter, thus reducing the number of chapters on privileges from 11 to 6.