Criminal Evidence and Human Rights: Reimagining Common Law Procedural Traditions

Criminal procedure in the common law world is being recast in the image of human rights. The cumulative impact of human rights laws - both international and domestic - presages a revolution in common law procedural traditions. The essays in this collection explore various aspects of the 'human rights revolution' in criminal evidence and procedure in the US, Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Scotland, and South Africa. The contributors provide expert evaluations of their own domestic law and practice with frequent reference to comparative experiences in other jurisdictions. Some essays focus on specific topics, such as evidence obtained by torture, the presumption of innocence, hearsay, the privilege against self-incrimination, and 'rape shield' laws. Others seek to draw more general lessons about the context of law reform, the epistemic demands of the right to a fair trial, the domestic impact of supra-national legal standards (especially the European Court of Human Rights), and the scope for re-imagining common law procedures through the medium of human rights. This edited collection showcases the latest theoretically informed, methodologically astute, and doctrinally rigorous scholarship in criminal procedure and evidence, in human rights, and in comparative law. The book will be a major addition to the literature in all of these fields.