International Commentary on Evidence

The Judicial Role in Criminal Proceedings - A Collection of Works 1998-1999

Editors' Introduction

In This Issue

An ICE special project on Evidence papers from the conference

The launch of International Commentary on Evidence (ICE) coincided with an international conference which we organised in Belfast on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 April 1998, hosted by the School of Law, Queen's University Belfast. The theme of the conference was the Judicial Role in Criminal Proceedings. The event attracted more than 150 participants and delegates from a diverse range of jurisdictions and professional backgrounds, including judges, academics, practising lawyers and others involved in the criminal justice system. The event was chaired by Professor Ron Allen of Northwestern University, Chicago, and participants included: Hon. Jack B. Weinstein, Senior Judge of the United States District Court, New York; Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Professor Andrew Ashworth, Oxford University; Professor Richard Friedman, University of Michigan; Professor Kate Warner, University of Tasmania; Professor Robert Mosteller, Duke University; and Professor Andrew Ligertwood, University of Adelaide. It is anticipated that a collection of essays based on conference contributions will be published next year.*

In the short term, however, the coincidence of the conference with the launch of ICE was a timely one in that a number of the conference contributions were particularly suitable for inclusion in an international and interdisciplinary journal on Evidence. Some of the most challenging aspects of the changing role of judges in modern times are derived from the field of Evidence, as is well reflected in the papers which can be now be accessed on the site. The linkage between ICE and the conference is not, however, confined to an overlap in subject matter. Just as the conference forum allows for an instantaneous response to speakers' ideas, the electronic format of ICE facilitates the generation of discussion on the Web, enabling authors and their critics to engage in the kind of interactive discussion which is beyond the capacity of the conventional legal journal. It is hoped that the papers which follow will provoke a willing response and will set this new electronic publishing venture off to a stimulating start.

*Editors‚ note (2004): The citation for the collection of essays from the conference is: Sean Doran and John Jackson (eds.), The Judicial Role in Criminal Proceedings (2000, Oxford: Hart Publishing, ISBN 1-84113-045-1).

Our Initial Publication

August 4, 1998

Electronic publications need not have issues--in fact, one of the advantages of an electronic publication is that it may include new material whenever that material appears. They must, however, begin publication at some time. ICE is now beginning publication. Our initial papers should appear in the Contents in the summer of this year (1998). This page provides some information about those papers, acknowledges some of the contributions others have made, and enables readers to contact the editors.

A Word about Pending Publications

We plan to publish a number of papers, most of which were presented at the recent conference "The Judicial Role in Criminal Proceedings" held by the School of Law of Queen's University of Belfast. They include Marilyn McCrimmon's work on the role of social science evidence in judicial decision-making, Alex Stein's analysis of rules of evidence, and a set of papers on judicial fact-finding and Bayesianism.

In addition, because the journal is electronic, there is no maximum number of papers that ICE can publish at any given time. Authors who are interested in submitting papers should do so through the "Submit Article" link.

Acknowledgements

We are greatly indebted to the people who encouraged us and supported this project. We particularly wish to acknowledge Chris Martin and Robin Cupples of Queen's University of Belfast School of Law, who have spent untold hours of their time building the site and designing the graphics for it. Their dedication and ingenuity were unfailing. The most imaginative features of the site are traceable to Chris and Robin.

In addition, Ron Allen, Delicia Bryant, Dorrance Dickens, David Faigman, Richard Hurt, Brian Huddleston, John Mayer, Bob Mosteller, Hans Nijboer, Bill Page, Roger Park, Steve Penrod and Peter Tillers offered assistance and useful ideas.

Questions or suggestions

Readers with questions, comments or suggestions can submit them on site, or contact us by electronic mail. To submit a comment on site, simply click the "Submit Article" link and follow the directions. If we think the comments and our responses would be of interest to readers in general, we will publish them as comments appended to this document. Readers who wish to contact us via electronic mail may do so at the following addresses:

Craig Callen, Editor-in-Chief

John Jackson, UK and European Editor

Sean Doran, International and Special Projects Editor