Subjects:

Jurisprudence

Contents:

Cognitive science, legal theory and the possibility of an observation/theory distinction in morality and law

Science, reason, and tort law: looking for the reasonable person

The role of scientific evidence in the assessment of causation in medicinal product liability litigation: a probabilistic and economic analysis

Pedro Juan Cubillo v Commonwealth of Australia (1995): right result, wrong method

The BSE crisis: a study of the precautionary principle and the politics of science in law

A new criterion for the admissibility of scientific evidence? The metamorphosis of helpfulness

Reflections on expert evidence in Canadian criminal proceedings: more lessons from North America

The risks and dangers of experts in court

Laws truth, lay truth and medical science: three case studies

Brainwashing evidence in the light of Daubert: science and unpopular religions

What lawyers need to know about science

This is the first volume of an exciting new series, Current Legal Issues, which will be published each spring as a sister volume to Current Legal Problems. The basis for each interdisciplinary volume will be a two-day colloquium held each year by the Faculty of Laws at University College London. This first volume explores the interrelationship of law and science. Future volumes will examine themes such as law and literature, law and medicine, law and religion, etc.

This book, the first volume of Current Legal Issues, explores the relationship of law and science, with a particular focus on the role of science as evidence. Scientific evidence impinges on a wide range of legal issues, including, for example, risk assessment in mental health and child abuse, criminal investigations, chemical and medical products, mass tort cases and the attribution of paternity. Science promises to reduce (or even eliminate) uncertainty; how should lawyers respond to such ambitious claims? As the civil justice process undergoes a major overhaul, this diverse and stimulating collection of essays provides a timely and thought-provoking reassessment of the relationship between law and science in general and the uses and value of scientific evidence in particular.