First Page
275
Abstract
This is the fifth in a series of symposia published by the Vanderbilt Law Review on important legal subjects. This symposium covers a number of selected subjects in the field of Evidence. The privilege accorded me of writing this foreword affords me the opportunity to express my sincere appreciation of this excellent symposium and the confident hope that it will be most helpful to students, judges and practicing lawyers.
The term "Evidence" imports the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is established or disproved.' It embraces the rules of law governing the admissibility or rejection of proffered proof and the weight to be given to proof that is admitted. Practical and workable rules of Evidence have an important function in the due administration of justice, both by judicial and administrative tribunals.
The Review has accorded me the privilege in this foreword of discussing individual essays and presenting any personal ideas I desire to in the field of Evidence. I regard it as inappropriate for me to comment individually on these scholarly essays by distinguished writers, and I shall refrain from expressing any personal ideas, other than one concept, which is the outgrowth of my experience of 13 years at the bar and 29 years on the bench, and which, I think, may properly be emphasized. It is that, subject to the limitations imposed by well-settled basic rules of Evidence, a wide discretion should be accorded the trial judge in determining the admissibility of proffered proof.
Recommended Citation
Orie L. Phillips,
A Symposium on Evidence -- Foreward,
5 Vanderbilt Law Review
275
(1952)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol5/iss3/1