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6 - Common Law Evidence and the Common Law of Human Rights

Towards a Harmonic Convergence?

from Part II - Convergences between Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2022

By
John Jackson
Edited by
Jordi Ferrer Beltrán  and
Carmen Vázquez
Jordi Ferrer Beltrán
Affiliation:
Universitat de Girona
Carmen Vázquez
Affiliation:
Universitat de Girona
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Summary

This paper considers the impact which European human rights law has made upon the common law rules of evidence with reference to the approach the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has adopted towards exclusionary rules. Particular attention will be given to rules that have been developed by the ECtHR in relation to the right to counsel during police questioning (the so-called ‘Salduz’ doctrine) and the right to examine witnesses (the so-called ‘sole or decisive’ evidence rule). It will be argued that the most recent decisions in these respects appear to dilute some of the impact that these rules appeared to have made to the common law and diminish the effectiveness of the Court as a setter of evidentiary standards for domestic jurisdictions.

Keywords

Right to counselright to examine witnessesexclusionary rulesevidentiary standards
Type
Chapter
Information
Evidential Legal Reasoning
Crossing Civil Law and Common Law Traditions
 , pp. 98 - 122
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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