The Nature of Juridical Proof

3 Credit Hours

Prof. Allen, and a former student at NU, now a professor at Alabama, Michael Pardo, are writing a book to be entitled The Nature of Juridical Proof. The book will be an inquiry into the conceptual foundations and the empirical reality of American evidentiary practice. Its scope will thus range from conceptual inquiry into such things as the nature of inference, probability, and plausibility to intensely practical questions such as the actual operation of relevancy, the hearsay rule and the uses of expert testimony. The seminar will be a good complement to the basic Evidence class (which is a prerequisite) for either the potential litigator who wants a deeper understanding of the field of evidence or the person with intellectual interests in evidence and inference. The readings will be either selected articles on the pertinent topic, or drafts of chapters if they are available (we are just beginning the project). The class will be conducted mostly as a discussion group. A paper will be required on some topic related to evidence, which each member of the seminar can choose; the topic need only be related to the field of evidence and need not map directly onto the subject matter of the book. The papers will presented to the class for discussion and critique. A second draft will be required, and thus the seminar will satisfy the Research Writing requirement. The students who take the seminar will receive acknowledgements in the published book.