A Working Guide to the Evidence Act(s)?

Let's begin by stating what this is, and what it isn't. It is not a treatise on evidence law. It is not the definitive word on Evidence Law. The High Court has reserved that honour to itself.

If you want a "mostly" definitive guide, then you might want to try the following resources:

1. Stephen Odgers, Uniform Evidence Law (whatever edition it's up to by now). There's a textbook, a looseleaf, and an electronic version on Westlaw.
2. John Stratton, Criminal Law Survival Kit - Evidence. I use this when I'm on the run, in court, for a quick statement of the relevant law, with links to authorities.
3. Judicial Commission of NSW, Criminal Trial Courts Bench Book. Whilst it is true that there is a civil version, anyone who has sat the Bar Exams, and seen the look on civil practitioners' faces at the end of the Evidence Exam, will understand why this is primarily a criminal thing. (In my view, that simply reflects the high burden of proof on the prosecution in a criminal trial).

This site is a revisiting of a paper which I wrote in October 2013, for a presentation to Legal Aid. That paper was a reaction against the way I was taught evidence law in law school - my teacher was of the view that the only way to learn evidence law was to "read every word of every case", summarise the case down to bullet points, then expand back out to a narrative form. After doing that, we were to turn up to lectures and tutorials to be grilled (or toasted), Socratic-style, on the fine distinctions.

It was both excruciating, and ineffective, as I discovered when I started regularly appearing in courts.

So, the paper started out with a simple aim, to give a coherent overview of the law of the evidence. Often, in practice, an evidence law issue presents itself. That issue can arise while you sit at the bar table, while you read a brief, or as you gather your thoughts the day before a hearing. Rarely do you have the luxury of time. Half of the battle is to understand what the issue is, and to understand it quickly.

So, what I hope to impart, is a conceptual understanding of how the (mostly) uniform Evidence Acts fit together. I hope that this will help you to understand what sort of a problem you are dealing with.