Abstract

Julian Barnes' novel Arthur & George is based on the true story of Arthur Conan Doyle's involvement in the case of George Edalji, an English solicitor wrongfully convicted of horse maiming in 1903. Conan Doyle successfully employed the methods of his literary creation, Sherlock Holmes, to clear Edalji. That episode raised questions about the adequacy of remedies for wrongful conviction, and was one of the reasons for creation of the English Court of Criminal Appeal. Given the impact that Conan Doyle's Holmes stories had on the development and understanding of scientific evidence, and fact-finding in general, Arthur & George invites us to think about those topics, as well as wrongful convictions and the impact of fiction on the way that we understand evidence. The fascinating contributions presented here result from an invitation to their authors to write on whichever of these themes they pleased.

Recommended Citation

Editors, The (2006) "Foreword: Perspectives on Arthur Conan Doyle and Evidence," International Commentary on Evidence: Vol. 4 : Iss. 2, Article 2.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ice/vol4/iss2/art2