Book Review: Cross on Evidence

(8th Australian Edition)

By J D Heydon¹

Published by Lexis Nexis Butterworths Australia²

Reviewed by By James Mcnab

This text is the definitive text on evidence law in Australia.  It naturally enough deals with the laws of evidence and how they apply to Australia, but also compares and contrasts some areas of evidence law as it applies in overseas jurisdictions.

This authoritative and well respected text is comprised of 21 chapters with various sub sections within those chapters.  The book is 1570 pages in length.  The text canvasses all areas of the law of evidence from the history and development of the law of evidence to estoppel, from competence and compellability of witnesses to character and credibility, from privilege to documentary evidence.  These are just a few areas that are covered by the book. They do not, by any means, amount to an exhaustive list of the areas which are covered. 

The book, importantly, as it is written for Australia, deals with the law of evidence as it applies in all the various Australian jurisdictions.  It clearly analyses in more than sufficient detail the rules of evidence as they apply in Australian courts and tribunals.

The text of Evidence Acts in Australian jurisdictions mirror one another to a significant degree. The text was written taking into account legislation which was to come into force after the publishing of the book.  It should be noted that the book claims currency as at 28 October, 2009. 

There have been significant changes in the law since the publication of the 7th edition in 2004 and Justice Heydon has embraced those changes in the writing of the book.  Areas where significant extra analysis has been added include legal professional and other privilege; the admissibility and exclusion of records of interview; as well as a short guide on the best way to approach improperly admitted evidence.

In relation to the receipt of confessional statements made to police officers, the chapter analyses the statutory regimes in all jurisdictions which all now seem to incorporate the statutory duty of police to record police interviews by electronic means.  Many jurisdictions now have provisions that make confessions, prima facie, inadmissible unless recorded by electronic means. 

At a price of $285.00 from the publisher, the 8th Edition of Cross is both a vital tool for all practitioners and students and excellent value for money.

Footnotes

1. Justice Heydon AC is a Justice of the High Court of Australia. 
2.  The publisher’s web page for the text is here. The High Court bio for His Honour is here. The only slightly more informative Wikipedia page is here.