Excerpt from Preliminary Treatise on Evidence: At the Common Law The title-page and Introduction indicate the general character of this volume. It seeks, by means of some preliminary investigations, to help students of the law of evidence, whether young or old, towards a clear understanding of that subject. By tracing the development of trial by jury, the author has endeavored to throw light on the beginnings and true character of our rules of evidence; by a more accurate analysis and a fuller illustration than is common, of the distinction between law and fact, to make plainer the respective functions of the jury and the court; and by an investigation of certain important topics, ordinarily, but, as it is believed, improperly treated as belonging to the law of evidence, to discriminate them from that part of the law, and set them in their proper place. In dealing with these matters the author has not spared time or labor; and he trusts that his work may help to make clear the most difficult parts of what is ordinarily discussed in books on evidence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.