ABSTRACT
It should be underlined, however, that the adjectival law is not an entirely separate entity from the substantive law. Often, there will be some degree of overlap between the two. For example, in a murder case, the jury will often have to decide whether the defendant intended to kill or to cause really serious bodily harm. The trial judge will direct them that there has to be a ‘virtual certainty of death’ and that the defendant(s) had to have an ‘appreciation that such was the case’. 1 These aspects of the trial relate to the elements of the offence, and fall within the remit of the substantive criminal law. However, a number of evidential rules will regulate how the case is prosecuted in court. They will dictate where the burden and standard of proof lies, what material may be used by the parties, the form of questioning that can be adopted by the advocates, and the manner in which the jury should assess the evidence. It is therefore unsurprising that, in practice, knowledge of the operation of evidential rules is essential to a full understanding of the legal process as a whole. No matter how well versed a lawyer may be in substantive law, he or she will be unable to provide advice to a client, or to prosecute a case, without a fi rm grasp of the law of evidence.
