ABSTRACT
JH Wigmore, The Principles of Judicial Proof (1931, 2nd edn) The study of the principles of evidence, for a lawyer, falls into two distinct parts. One is proof in the general sense – the part concerned with the ratiocinative process of contentious persuasion – mind to mind, counsel to judge or juror, each partisan seeking to move the mind of the tribunal. The other part is admissibility – the procedural rules devised by the law, and based on litigious experience and tradition, to guard the tribunal (particularly the jury) against erroneous persuasion. Hitherto, the latter has loomed largest in our formal studies – has, in fact, monopolized them; while the former, virtually ignored, has been left to the chances of later acquisition, casual and empiric, in the course of practice.
