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Legal Facts: Additional Resources
These references supplement the Knowledge Base Essay, Legal Facts.
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Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Circumstantial Evidence: Entire Case. New York State Unified Court System. Available at: Primary Link [Backup Link] This document clearly outlines the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence and how they each relate to facts and to the outcome of a trial. The explanation also includes some good examples. Facts are Not What Win Cases: Perceptions Do!. Available at: http://library.findlaw.com/1999/Jun/1/127702.html [Backup Link] This article discusses the importance of perceptions in a trial setting versus the importance of facts, in terms of outcomes. The author argues that facts are not necessarily as critical as how they are presented and the perceptions that judges and jurors develop of them.
Offline (Print) Sources
Anderson, Terrence and William Twining. Analysis of Evidence: How to do Things with Facts Based on Wigmore's Science of Judicial Proof. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, October 1998. This work provides a guide for "mastering a necessary set of skills in fact analysis (the development, analysis, and marshaling of raw data): constructing, reconstructing, and criticizing arguments about disputed questions of fact; developing techniques for structuring problems and organizing masses of data; and developing techniques for detailed analysis and evaluation of particular data in the context of complex arguments" (Back cover of book). Garner, Bryan A., ed. Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Standard Edition. St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1999. This dictionary is the leading reference on legal terminology. Using this resource, one could learn more about the types of evidence that are used to support facts in court. Murphy, Peter, ed. Evidence, Proof, and Facts: A Book of Sources. Oxford: Oxford University Press, May 2003. This edited volume presents a range of essays on the concept and law of evidence in legal matters. Many of the essays go back to the philosophical underpinnings of today's U.S. legal system including essays by Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham, John Maynard Keynes, and John Locke. Bergman, Paul and David A. Binder. Fact Investigation: From Hypothesis to Proof. Belmont, CA: West Wadsworth, April 1984. This work "[d]escribes how facts are proved at trial, examining the principal categories of rational and psychological evidence, which is the basis of trial 'stories.' How, at trial, does each party tell a story bolstering its own legal position and detracting from that of its adversary? What attributes of stories tend to make them persuasive? From these attributes, the authors derive a set of investigatory objectives that generally apply, regardless of the nature of the case. With objectives in place, [the book] turns to the thought processes that lawyers employ to analyze and develop evidence." (Description from Amazon.com)
Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
What Legal Case Brought Issues of Race and Class to Public Attention. Available at: http://blackvoices.aol.com [Backup Link] This article points out how legal facts were used to show that Odell Waller a sharecropper in Pittsylvania County was denied a trial by his peers in 1940.
Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
The Secret Agent. Directed and/or Produced by: Keller, Daniel and Jackie Ochs. Green Mountain Post Films. 1983. This film looks at the technical and legal facts associated with the "Agent Orange" class action suit. Primary Link [Backup Link] The Unquiet Death of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg . Directed and/or Produced by: Goldstein, Alvin. First Run Icarus Films. 1974. This film documents the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, while exploring the issues of freedom and democracy in the US. Primary Link [Backup Link] |
