The fourth edition of this well-respected book provides a broad overview of the medico-legal issues arising in both criminal and civil proceedings. Written by a highly respected academic, the new edition ensures the text is brought fully up to date with new material on wounds, explosions, head injury, transplantation, asphyxia, marriage and pregnancy, and the legal aspects of medical practice.

This book provides a balance between analytical discussion of the principles and the practical application of the law and includes numerous illustrations and practice-related situations for this purpose.It offers students an intensely detailed and integrated portrait of the litigation process (including procedure and advocacy) and is therefore a vital source of reference for their studies.

This book recognises that this subject is particularly difficult primarily because of the difficulties inherent in the Evidence Act (a significant part of which remains in the state it was enacted in 1893), and the tension between this statute and the constantly developing common law. No effort is spared in tackling these problems and examining all applicable sources of law. This highly successful publication has already sold thousands of copies in the course of the first six editions. Since the 6th Edition of Evidence and the Litigation Process, there have been developments that affected almost every area of the Law of Evidence in all proceedings.

This Edition Covers:

• Important statutory reforms affecting civil and criminal proceedings, as introduced by the Evidence (Amendment) Act 2018 and Criminal Justice Reform Act 2018, Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act 2019 and related statutory sources and regulations
• Case law developments concerning expert evidence, burdens of proof, standards of proof, hearsay, character and similar fact evidence, witness examination, modes of presenting evidence, evidence by video link, presentation of exhibits, the court’s discretion to exclude evidence, ancillary hearings to determine the admissibility of statements, voluntariness and reliability, presumptions of law, legal advice privilege, litigation privilege, privilege as between entities and their in-house counsel, marital privilege, without prejudice privilege, State privilege, DNA evidence and the process for agreeing to the use of documents in civil proceedings.