Bronwynne Anderson (Australia)
At its Highest
(2020)
pencil drawing with digital colouring 
© Bronwynne Anderson

The fourth edition of Uniform Evidence Law: Text and Essential Cases continues the traditions of earlier edition with a detailed, comprehensive and integrated discussion of all concepts and rules of evidence law. The latest judicial decisions and legislative amendments have been included, accompanied by insightful commentary and analysis to explain and evaluate these developments in the law. This includes the evolution in the judicial interpretation of the meaning of ‘significant probative value’ in cases involving tendency evidence, such as the High Court decisions in Hughes v R, Bauer v R, and McPhillamy v R. The most recent legislative changes to the admissibility thresholds for tendency and coincidence evidence have been incorporated with reflective commentary on the parliamentary intent and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Important developments in weighing factors under s 138 (Kadir v R; Grech v R) and determining the competence and proper questioning of child witnesses (A2 v R) have been thoughtfully examined.

The case extracts throughout this edition have been selected to provide a useful mix of seminal and enduring statements of evidentiary principles, together with more recent decisions highlighting current judicial interpretations of the most frequently considered provisions of the uniform Evidence Acts. The chapter order closely reflects the structure of the uniform Evidence Acts in all jurisdictions and the incremental topic sequencing of most university courses in evidence law.

Uniform Evidence Law provides an essential toolkit for both the student and practitioner of evidence law. It has been carefully designed to enhance understanding of the practical operation of evidence law in the various federal and state litigation contexts in which it arises.