Foreword to the first edition

• Author: Louise Charron
• Profession: Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
• Pages: 19-20

ForeWord

Some years ago, I agreed to write the foreword to the first edition of

this book with enthusiasm. Even without seeing the manuscript, I felt

confident that with a “Paciocco” and “Stuesser” stamp of quality on it,

the book would be excellent. From my very first reading, I thought it

was even better than an excellent piece of writing — it had all the mak-

ings of a very useful tool for all consumers of the law of evidence. Sev-

eral editions later, I know that it is.

Any experienced legal writer will appreciate what a challenging

task it is to distill a massive body of jurisprudence into a seemingly

simple set of principles. The challenge is particularly daunting when it

comes to the constantly-evolving law of evidence. Yet Professors

Paciocco and Stuesser have succeeded, with brilliance. The authors

have not only extricated from our Canadian jurisprudence a concise,

yet scholarly, summary of the current “rules” of evidence, they have

made the law intelligible by relating those rules to the underlying gov-

erning principles. Realistic examples bring the rules to life and make

the book immensely readable. The organization of the material is very

user-friendly, making it a valuable guide for law students, practitioners,

academics, and judges.

I have often used this textbook in my daily work over the years. In

2003–2004, I took a six-month leave from my regular judicial duties to

prepare an electronic bench book on the law of evidence for the

National Judicial Institute for use by Canadian trial and appellate

judges. I could think of no better text to use as a backdrop for the proj-

ect. With the permission of the authors and the publisher, the textbook

was therefore adapted to meet the particular requirements of sitting

judges. The format of the book may have been adapted to suit the elec-

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