Law of Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Law of Evidence - Essay Example For example, in the case of Scott v Sampson3, the Court refused to receive evidence of specific acts of misconduct of the plaintiff. According to Cave J, both the principle and the authorities appear to be against admission of such evidence because it would in effect â€Å"throw upon the Plaintiff the difficulty of showing a uniform propriety of conduct during his whole life†¦.†4 Eve can be protected in her position as a complainant witness by this general rule. Evidence provided through implied assertions may also be inadmissible, an aspect that Allen has discussed in his article, demonstrating how excluding evidence from third parties (in this case the records of the American case) could be flawed when the constitutional rights in relation to determining guilt of the accused are at stake.5 The admissibility of evidence is governed by Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Civil Evidence Act, which emphasizes that evidence must be relevant before it will be admissible. Since the issue in this case is Dan’s alleged rape of Eve, previous convictions or lawsuits against either of the parties may not be admissible since they could be deemed to be prejudicial to the interests of the parties. Section 74(1) of the criminal Evidence Act of 1984 deals with previous convictions of persons other than the defendant, in this case the complainant Eve. This section states that such evidence would be admissible only if they are relevant to the issue before the court – which in this case, is Dan’s alleged rape. However, Section 78 also allows the judge the discretion to exclude such evidence if it would have such an adverse effect on the proceedings that it could prejudice the interests of the parties, in which case it may not be allowed. (b) In this case, Dan is being accused of rape. In general, no character evidence or evidence about prior misdeeds of the accused can