Book Review: Cross on Evidence, 9th Australian Edition

Sir Alfred Rupert Neale Cross (1912-1980) was totally blind from just after birth, due to what was said to be a cancer related to his eyes. It is remarkable that his resilience resulted in his elevation to the Vinerian chair at Oxford, to follow the great jurists, Sir William Blackstone, Albert Dicey, William Holdsworth and Geoffrey Cheshire, inter alia, in that named professorship.

Cross was also a talented chess player, representing Oxford in four separate years, as well as being an active Fellow of Magdalen College. It is unfortunate that his surname is now but a ‘by-line’ on a very important text.

Cross on Evidence was first published in 1959. The first Australian edition of the text was published in 1970. This work remains the definitive evidence law text in Australia and is now in its 9th edition.

Relevantly, The Honourable John Dyson Heydon AC was awarded at Oxford the Vinerian Scholarship, which is the prize given to the student who gives the best performance in the examination for the Degree of Bachelor of Civil Law. That prize provides a tangible link between Justice Heydon and Sir Rupert Cross. Justice Heydon’s involvement with the Australian edition spans the period from just after his time as Head of School at the University of Sydney, through his practice at the Bar and his subsequent appointments to the New South Wales Court of Appeal and the High Court.

Justice Heydon explains the updates to this ninth edition in the preface as follows: “the principal statutory developments since the last edition have concerned the enactment of the Evidence Act 2011 (ACT), together with the Evidence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 2011 (ACT), the Evidence Amendment Act 2011 (ACT) and the Evidence (Consequential Amendments) Act 2011 (ACT). … The Evidence (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2011 (NT) was enacted on 15 November 2011, but most of it has not yet commenced.”

His Honour cites the major reason for the new edition to be for the purpose of ‘reflecting’ changes in the interpretation and application of existing case law. His Honour summarises those changes to include the rule in Jones v Dunkel; legal and evidential burdens of proof; relevance and wrongly received evidence; reception of fresh evidence on appeal; the discretion to exclude DNA evidence; spousal incrimination; similar fact evidence; lay opinion evidence; expert evidence; and contractual construction.

With some 1400 pages of content and a table of cases of some 275 pages, the work is very comprehensive. The book is sold with a recommended retail price of $290. However,

various online retailers currently offer the work for under $200. This up-to-date and detailed work continues to be a pre-eminent text for practitioners and students alike.

Dominic Katter

Chambers

15 March 2013