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Schedule Registration Housing |
| Friday, January 7, 2000 8:30-10:15 a.m. |
Marriott Ballroom Salon III Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Lobby Level |
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Section on Evidence |
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| Craig R. Callen, Mississippi College, Chair |
| Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Hearsay | (Program to be published in International Commentary on Evidence) |
| Moderator: | |
| Craig R. Callen, Mississippi College | |
| Speakers: | |
| Frank R. Herrmann, Boston College
Randy Frances Kandel, Adjunct Professor, Syracuse University College of Law, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Flushing, New York Steven D. Penrod, University of Nebraska |
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| Commentator: | |
| Christopher B. Mueller, University of Colorado |
| Hearsay is a particularly difficult and controversial part of the law of evidence. Each of our main speakers has used a different interdisciplinary approach to look at hearsay, in the process producing insights about the foundations of hearsay doctrine. Cases and commentators often say that the rule against hearsay is based on the belief that jurors cannot evaluate hearsay accurately. Professor Penrod will survey the state of psychological research on how American jurors might (and in some cases do) evaluate hearsay, and the validity (or lack thereof) of courts' assumptions about jurors' reasoning. Another, related, argument is that hearsay doctrine developed in conjunction with the development of the jury trial in England. Professor Herrmann's talk will draw on his work on hearsay in Roman, canonical and medieval law, providing historical and comparative perspectives on rules excluding hearsay evidence. His research has emphasized the degree to which doubts about hearsay have been part of the legal history of Western culture. Finally, there are recurring questions about whether rules excluding hearsay can be justified in light of our extra-judicial reliance on hearsay. Professor Kandel will discuss the role of hearsay in settlement of disputes focusing on children. Her sociolinguistic research on the ways that parties use hearsay to seek emotional and strategic advantage affords a view of the utility of second-hand evidence that is not constricted by traditional rules of evidence. Professor Mueller will comment on the three talks. |
| Business Meeting at Program Conclusion |