Preface

• Author: David M. Paciocco/Lee Stuesser
• Pages: 21-22

Preface

This book has been written in an effort to simplify, and record con-

cisely, the main rules and principles of the law of evidence. It is an

attempt to explain the basic concepts of evidence to the law student. At

the same time, it is an effort to provide the practitioner with a simple

and accessible catalogue of the authority that is most frequently need-

ed in the conduct of trials or hearings. We are pleased that this work

has been adapted by the National Judicial Institute as the “bench book”

that has been distributed to judges of all courts across Canada to assist

in their evidentiary rulings.

In an effort to simplify the law of evidence, we have chosen to

reduce the most important rules into proposition form. These proposi-

tions or statements of law can be found italicized throughout the text

above the discussions to which they relate. We are aware that there will

occasionally be controversy over the proper statement of rules of law

and that the law of evidence has proven particularly resistant to efforts

at codification. We are nonetheless of the view that our efforts at stat-

ing the law in clear terms can be of value to both students and practi-

tioners by simplifying and focusing the discussion. Where major

controversies exist, we have attempted to note them. We have also used

many examples in an effort to illustrate the operation of the rules.

In this fourth edition, we have adhered to the organizational plan

that we adopted for the first three editions. The general concepts of the

law of evidence are introduced in chapter 1. The introduction supplies

an opportunity to describe generally the function of the law of evi-

dence, to make observations about the trend in recent authority, and to

present foundational material that should assist in understanding the

discussions contained in the main body of the work.

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