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The modern law of evidence, by Adrian Keane and Paul McKeown, Oxford, Oxford University, 2016, 11th edition, 753 pp., £35.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-19-874929-5

The Modern Law of Evidence is by now clearly established as the leading textbook on the subject as far as legal professional education is concerned. Further, it is regarded as authoritative both in the courts in this jurisdiction, and internationally. Its contents are comprehensive, covering the full range of evidential issues – burden and standard of proof, hearsay, confessions, character evidence, opinion evidence, privilege and the rules surrounding witnesses. The table of cases cited is impressive, containing reports from Australia, Canada, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Commission of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States of America. It deals with evidence in both criminal and civil proceedings, and does so in a way which is engaging and accessible, without the slightest hint of “dumbing down”. This is no mean feat in covering a subject which is widely regarded as intellectually challenging. As far as the use of the book in teaching and learning is concerned, it has a treasured place in professional courses because of its combination of reliability and accessibility. One of its outstanding features is the way in which it sets out, at the start of each chapter, a set of questions to provoke the reader into thinking about the subject matter of the chapter which follows. They are framed in such a way as to invite thought about the issues which are to be dealt with. To take an example, Chapter 3 on the (controversial) subject of “Evidence obtained by illegal or unfair means” sets out as the Key Issues: