Out of Print
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in evidence, inference and p'~~_babi.ll'ty'rn a number of disciplines.
In this book William Twining explores the intellectual background to many of these debates through a detailed study of the two leading theorists of evidence in the history of the common law: Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Henry Wigmore (1863-1943).
Bentham the radical English reformer and Wigmore the conservative American academic lawyer present a fascinating mixture of contrasts and affinities. The central thesis of this work is that, despite their outward differences and the fact that their work on evidence is separated by a century, both Bentham and Wigmore belong to a tradition of optimistic rationalism which has its roots in the eighteenth-century Enlightenment.
The book begins with a broad historical survey of the rationalist tradition of evidence scholarship. The author then examines Bentham's ideas on evidence, based on Bentham's Rationale of Judicial Evidence. Turning to Wigmore, he concentrates on the little known Principles (later Science) of Judicial Proof. The final section compares and contrasts the theories of Bentham and Wigmore and assesses their current significance.
This is a book which will be of interest to anyone concerned with the problems of analysing and evaluating evidence. As Bentham wrote, 'The field of evidence is no other than the field of knowledge.'
.jpg?1680780797)
