Hearsay: A “Functional” Principled Approach

Author: Emma Cunliffe and Christine L.M. Boyle
Current to: February 2019

The rule excluding hearsay evidence may be the most famous contribution of the common law to the world’s methods of fact determination in legal processes. In this paper from CLEBC Online Course Materials, Emma Cunliffe, Assistant Professor and Christine L.M. Boyle, Professor, both of the Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, discuss the exclusionary rule itself, the development of a “principled approach” to the admission of hearsay, and the traditional exceptions (touching on their rationales).

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