The Origins of Reasonable Doubt: Theological Roots of the Criminal Trial (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) - Softcover

Whitman, James Q.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300219903 ISBN 13: 9780300219906

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2016

Synopsis

To be convicted of a crime in the United States, a person must be proven guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.” But what is reasonable doubt? Even sophisticated legal experts find this fundamental doctrine difficult to explain. In this accessible book, James Q. Whitman digs deep into the history of the law and discovers that we have lost sight of the original purpose of “reasonable doubt.” It was not originally a legal rule at all, he shows, but a theological one.

 

The rule as we understand it today is intended to protect the accused. But Whitman traces its history back through centuries of Christian theology and common-law history to reveal that the original concern was to protect the souls of jurors. In Christian tradition, a person who experienced doubt yet convicted an innocent defendant was guilty of a mortal sin. Jurors fearful for their own souls were reassured that they were safe, as long as their doubts were not “reasonable.” Today, the old rule of reasonable doubt survives, but it has been turned to different purposes. The result is confusion for jurors, and a serious moral challenge for our system of justice.

 

About this title

About the Author:

James Q. Whitman is Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law, Yale University, and author of the award-winning book Harsh Justice. He lives in New York City, NY.

Review:

“Whitman’s work on reasonable doubt is of immense importance both to the academic and to the practical realm.”―M. Cathleen Kaveny, University of Notre Dame Law School

(M. Cathleen Kaveny)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0300219903
• ISBN 13: 9780300219906
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288