Damaška: Evidence Law Adrift. A Book Review

Let me state my biases at the start. I am a great fan of Professor Damaska and have been ever since I read his first book, The Faces of Justice and State Authority. Professor Damaska\u27s most recent book, Evidence Law Adrift, adds to my admiration. In Evidence Law Adrift Professor Dama~ka examines Continental and Anglo-American trial procedures and argues that changes in the way Anglo-American courts resolve cases, especially the marginalization of the jury trial, strip common law evidence doctrine of its theoretical base and place it in danger of becoming an intellectual curiosity confined, in Professor Damaska\u27s words, to an oubliette in the castle of justice. \u27 One does not have to agree with all of Professor Damaska\u27s analysis to share his sense that the classic common law trial and the rules and procedures integral to it are at a point of crisis