The Law of Evidence, by David M. Paciocco and Lee Stuesser, is Canada’s leading text in evidentiary law in both criminal and civil cases. For nearly two decades, it has been relied upon by judges, practitioners, and scholars both in the courtroom and in the classroom. In the newest edition of this frequently cited book, the authors continue their practice of organizing, explaining, and illustrating the law of evidence clearly, simply, and practically. The seventh edition provides authoritative analyses of new cases as well as a fresh or an expanded examination of the most important topics in evidentiary law, including

• the significance and manner of objecting to evidence;
• consideration of credibility and reliability in the exercise of exclusionary discretion;
• new discussion of the similar fact evidence rule incorporating the decision in R. v. Jesse and other appellate level decisions from across Canada;
• explanation of the implied hearsay decision in R. v. Baldree;
• new discussion of hearsay exceptions, incorporating relevant authorities including Brisco Estate v. Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company;
• review of changes to expert evidence rules and the increasingly important issue of how courts deal with partial or dependent expert witnesses;
• clarification of the principles of waiver;
• review of important developments with the law of settlement privilege, the law of informer identity, and the law relating to the protection of third party records in sexual offences explanation of the “Fictitious Criminal Organization Rule” developed in R. v. Hart and the implications for the principled approach to self-incrimination;
• discussion of the more aggressive use of the “obtained in a manner” prerequisite to exclusion illustrated in R. v. Archambault and R. v. Manchulenko;
• analysis of the doctrine of discoverability as explored in R. v. Côté;
• practical and clear descriptions of the rules that govern the way evidence is to be offered, and explanations of the impact of R. v. D.A.I. on the testimony of children, R. v. Ipeelee, on the law of judicial notice, and R. v. N.S. on the use of demeanour in assessing credibility;
• new step-by-step procedures for the use of prior inconsistent statements under sections 9(1) and 9(2) of the Canada Evidence Act; and
• discussion of new developments in identification cases, including R. v. Behre and R. v. Hay.

The Law of Evidence, 7th ed., promises to continue to be an influential and highly used resource and teaching aid.

The Honourable Justice David M Paciocco of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, professor emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, was formerly a justice of the Ontario Court of Justice and a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, Common Law Section. While a professor, he served as a prosecutor over a period of several years before engaging in a specialized criminal defence practice. He has written extensively about criminal law and is a frequent lecturer at continuing education programs for judges and lawyers. His academic writings have been relied upon, on numerous occasions, by courts in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and by the Privy Council.

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Lee Stuesser is the founding dean of law at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University. Prior to this position he was a professor of law and the director of the Canadian Law Program at Bond University in Australia. Before moving to Australia, he taught evidence, advocacy, and criminal law at the University of Manitoba for twenty years. He is the author of two books on advocacy: one for Canadian lawyers, An Advocacy Primer, and one for Australian barristers and solicitors, An Introduction to Advocacy.

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