Wendie E Schneider
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300125665
- eISBN:
- 9780300216554
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300125665.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Engines of Truth explores the history of nineteenth-century British trial procedure from the novel viewpoint of efforts to control perjury. Perjury emerged as an acute problem in the Victorian era: ...
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Engines of Truth explores the history of nineteenth-century British trial procedure from the novel viewpoint of efforts to control perjury. Perjury emerged as an acute problem in the Victorian era: new rules allowed many more witnesses to testify, increasing the opportunities for deceit; a broader cultural emphasis on sincerity and truth-telling made the threat seem even greater. Engines of Truth traces the experiments pursued to control witnesses’ truthfulness, from criminal prosecutions and increased reliance on cross-examination, to shame sanctions in British India and inquisitorial investigation in the new Divorce Court. Blending legal, social and colonial history, it employs a broad array of sources, including colonial archival material, provincial newspaper coverage, home office records, literary sources, and legislative records. Engines of Truth concludes with a new look at the pivotal 1898 Criminal Evidence Act in Britain, which allowed criminal defendants to testify on oath, placing that Act within the context of a history of sexual scandals that played out in Victorian courtrooms. While many of the experiments it describes failed, the process of innovation this book charts shaped modern trial procedure. Both the United States and the United Kingdom rely heavily on cross-examination as the main test of witness truthfulness, a by-product of this experimentation. In American law, cross-examination is still described as the “greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth;” this book provides a new understanding of the complex process that led to its ascendency.Less
Engines of Truth explores the history of nineteenth-century British trial procedure from the novel viewpoint of efforts to control perjury. Perjury emerged as an acute problem in the Victorian era: new rules allowed many more witnesses to testify, increasing the opportunities for deceit; a broader cultural emphasis on sincerity and truth-telling made the threat seem even greater. Engines of Truth traces the experiments pursued to control witnesses’ truthfulness, from criminal prosecutions and increased reliance on cross-examination, to shame sanctions in British India and inquisitorial investigation in the new Divorce Court. Blending legal, social and colonial history, it employs a broad array of sources, including colonial archival material, provincial newspaper coverage, home office records, literary sources, and legislative records. Engines of Truth concludes with a new look at the pivotal 1898 Criminal Evidence Act in Britain, which allowed criminal defendants to testify on oath, placing that Act within the context of a history of sexual scandals that played out in Victorian courtrooms. While many of the experiments it describes failed, the process of innovation this book charts shaped modern trial procedure. Both the United States and the United Kingdom rely heavily on cross-examination as the main test of witness truthfulness, a by-product of this experimentation. In American law, cross-examination is still described as the “greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth;” this book provides a new understanding of the complex process that led to its ascendency.
Wendie Ellen Schneider
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300125665
- eISBN:
- 9780300216554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300125665.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter looks at the steady augmentation of the barrister’s role as guarantor of testimonial accuracy. Developments in the law of evidence, shifts in power between barristers and trial judges, ...
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This chapter looks at the steady augmentation of the barrister’s role as guarantor of testimonial accuracy. Developments in the law of evidence, shifts in power between barristers and trial judges, and the growing importance of cross-examination all contributed to this process. This chapter follows the rise of cross-examination by investigating the controversies regarding its role and nature that periodically erupted in the popular and legal presses. By the end of the nineteenth century, cross-examination had assumed its contemporary place as the main protection against testimonial duplicity, a change driven in large part by the professional self-interest of the bar.Less
This chapter looks at the steady augmentation of the barrister’s role as guarantor of testimonial accuracy. Developments in the law of evidence, shifts in power between barristers and trial judges, and the growing importance of cross-examination all contributed to this process. This chapter follows the rise of cross-examination by investigating the controversies regarding its role and nature that periodically erupted in the popular and legal presses. By the end of the nineteenth century, cross-examination had assumed its contemporary place as the main protection against testimonial duplicity, a change driven in large part by the professional self-interest of the bar.
Paul Craig
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198831655
- eISBN:
- 9780191932311
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198831655.003.0014
- Subject:
- Law, EU Law
This chapter is concerned with process rights, and should be read in conjunction with the previous chapter on access. The sources of process rights are, as will become clear from the subsequent ...
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This chapter is concerned with process rights, and should be read in conjunction with the previous chapter on access. The sources of process rights are, as will become clear from the subsequent discussion, eclectic. Treaty articles, EU legislation, the Union Courts, the European Ombudsman, and the Commission have all contributed towards the enumeration of such process rights, drawing inspiration from national legal systems. The discussion that follows takes a broad view of process and addresses the topic from three perspectives.
Less
This chapter is concerned with process rights, and should be read in conjunction with the previous chapter on access. The sources of process rights are, as will become clear from the subsequent discussion, eclectic. Treaty articles, EU legislation, the Union Courts, the European Ombudsman, and the Commission have all contributed towards the enumeration of such process rights, drawing inspiration from national legal systems. The discussion that follows takes a broad view of process and addresses the topic from three perspectives.
