Electronic evidence
Challenging electronic evidence in court
The march of information technology continues and lawyers need to keep abreast of its reach and implications. The recent publicity attracted by the rise of machine-learning artificial intelligence, as well as the scandal of the Post Office’s prosecution of numerous postmasters and postmistresses, makes the issue especially topical. What do we mean by electronic evidence? […]
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The Post Office Horizon IT scandal: convictions quashed but the legal causes remain
In a previous article in the Newsletter, “The Post Office Horizon scandal: the law says computers are reliable”, I set out an outline of the facts leading up to the second trial against the Post Office by Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance set up by Sir Alan Bates, recently and deservedly appointed a Knight Batchelor in […]
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Electronic Evidence and Electronic Signatures
The 5th edition of Electronic Evidence and Electronic Signatures updates this well-established practitioner text. Stephen Mason and Daniel Seng have brought together a team of experts in the field to provide an exhaustive treatment of electronic evidence and electronic signatures. This edition continues to follow the tradition in English evidence text books by basing the […]
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The Post Office Horizon scandal: the law says computers are reliable
The Post Office Horizon scandal will probably have come to the attention of most lawyers over the last 12 months. There are a number of significant issues other than legal that surround the scandal, and Paul Marshall of Cornerstone Barristers, Gray’s Inn, succinctly summarises them in a lecture he gave at the University of Law […]
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Electronic evidence from the internet
By Stephen Mason and George Weir To ask the right questions of digital evidence professionals when instructing them, it is incumbent on the lawyer to be aware of what questions to ask. Here we describe the various mechanisms by which evidence in electronic form is adduced into legal proceedings via the worldwide web and internet. […]
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Electronic evidence
Electronic signatures and electronic evidence are central to our lives; we all use technology. At present, there is no agreed term relating to the form of evidence that comes from our use of technology: specifically, software. For the sake of shorthand, the words “electronic” and “digital” are used interchangeably. A change of outlook Recording content […]
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Electronic evidence: disclosure and admissibility
Digital devices (and thus digital evidence) are ubiquitous, and any lawyer that fails to ask their client for evidence from their laptop, Blackberry, mobile telephone, memory sticks or iPod is risking an action in negligence if such evidence could have been made available and would have been relevant in any legal proceedings but was not […]
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