Review
Reviews of previous edition: Sometimes, and this is one of them, it is excruciatingly difficult to commence a book review, not because of the lack of quality of the publication, but because it is so good you fear that you will not do it justice. We are all coming to grips with some changed concepts in applying the law of evidence. For those of us who studied the subject many years ago and have practised its use on a daily basis, we perhaps feel like the cricketer who is told that the pitches will from now on be metric. They are almost what you are used to, but in subtle ways they are different. This is the second book that I have reviewed dealing with the uniform evidence law but this one deals with the nuts and bolts of it, rather than trying to compare differences between the old and the new or between States. The name does not say it all. It is much more than text accompanied by essential cases. The author has on a number of occasions, considered and dissected decisions, including relatively recent High Court decisions and, by analysis, suggested that in some cases their rationale is perhaps flawed or that subsequent decisions might see the interpretation of the Act, applied differently in the future. This is not an annotation of the Act, but more an in depth analysis of issues such as credibility, hearsay, prior inconsistent statements, prior consistent statements, admissions and denials, identification evidence, witnesses and privileges and the course of trial. On occasions the author considers sections of the Act in a group, particularly when looking at issues such as hearsay statements which may be admissible under one of several sections of the Act. Similarly, he has discussed a number of decisions, which have included, where appropriate, the summing up of the trial judge, so that practitioners may more readily understand in simple terms, how judges have explained the application of the various provisions of the Act, to the particular factual circumstances. This is a first rate book. I can only echo the sentiments of Justice Carolyn Simpson who said in the foreword, 'I commend Peter Bayne for this worthwhile attempt to refine the principles under which we now must act, and look forward personally to benefiting, in a practical way, from his efforts in this regard.' - Tasmanian Law Society Newsletter, February 2004 This is a good book. … It is always a pleasure to read texts such as Peter Bayne's where one can understand the point in a paragraph without multiple re-readings. Quite clearly, if you reside in uniform evidence law jurisdictions, this text is an excellent one … this text is also of vital importance for those who serve in the Australian Defence Force, who have to deal with the matters that arise out of the Defence Force Discipline Act. … I would highly recommend this text … - Ethos (Law Society of the ACT), March 2004
