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Publication Date

2013

Abstract

Thank you to the Georgia Law Review and the University of
Georgia School of Law for inviting me to discuss evidence reform
in the State of Georgia. As a trial lawyer, it is both an honor-and
a daunting task-to address such a distinguished group of
evidence scholars as have gathered here today.
More than 150 years ago, the author of Georgia's first evidence
code, Judge David Irwin, began with a simple principle: "The
object of all legal investigation is the discovery of truth."2 If that is
so, and I believe that it is, then an evidence code is a lens that
focuses the discovery and that brings truth into perspective. The
rules of evidence filter information, controlling what evidence a
jury may, and may not, hear as it weighs the claims before it.
They focus the jury's perception of the evidence before it, setting
the parameters of what a given piece of evidence does, or does not,
establish. They are fundamental to our system of justice and
affect, in a very real way, the manner in which legal proceedings
are conducted and whether the ultimate outcome is fair and just.

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