3839. These factors shall be considered in more detail in the concluding discussion on a potential balancing test (see infra, 5), together with legal implications derived from national systems. 13; Prli et al., ICTY, Case No. A/56/10, Art. This question deserves attention in light of two situations. Rule 162 stipulates the same threshold for mandatory exclusion as that contained in the ICTY and ICTR Rules, and adds that in particular, evidence shall be excluded if it has been obtained in violation of international standards on human rights, including the prohibition of torture.28. The Court has referred to the principle when explaining many of its procedural decisions, such as the inadmissibility of additional claims during the proceedings,44 the joinder of proceedings,45 the removal of a case from the General List due to a manifest lack of jurisdiction,46 the conduct of proceedings after non-appearance of a party,47 and the invocation by a party of a new jurisdictional basis.48 The principle of the equality of the parties, too, is reflected in this practice, and appears intrinsically linked to the proper administration of justice, as it guarantees that each party receives the same opportunity to present its case to the Court, and thereby ensures that neither party is granted an unfair advantage over the other.49. Eduardo Valencia-Ospina, Evidence before the International Court of Justice, 1 International Law Forum Du Droit International (1999), 205. Based on the case law of both the ECJ and the English Court of Appeal, it therefore appears not established that the unlawfulness remains inherent in the evidence when used by a third, uninvolved party.89 This conclusion would support the relevance of another general principle in this context, the principle of ex iniuria ius non oritur. Reports 2019, paras. Evidence must be legally admissible in order to be considered at all by the court. As already briefly discussed in the context of the principle of good faith (see supra, 3.2), general principles of law have traditionally represented the central source of authority for procedural rules in international law.95 Article 38, paragraph 1(c) of the ICJ Statute lists general principles of law recognized by civilized nations as a source of international law to be applied by the Court in cases before it.96 For the purposes of determining whether unlawfully obtained evidence should be excluded from international adjudication based on general principles of law, some of the more traditional general principles of law used in international jurisprudence (such as good faith, or ex iniuria ius non oritur) have already been discussed above. 287 of Civil Procedure Code); Switzerland (Art. 138 of the National Uniform Legislation Evidence Act); Brazil (Art. These five rules areadmissible, authentic, complete, reliable, and believable. The results of the present survey reveal that, in civil cases, the evidence is either (1) generally admissible (nine countries),102 (2) generally inadmissible (six countries),103 (3) inadmissible if its discovery either violated a constitutional right (four countries),104 or (4) inadmissible if a balancing of interests favors its exclusion (eight countries).105 Among the countries that provide for restrictions on admissibility, nine have legislation in place with explicit rules on the treatment of illegally obtained evidence,106 and many more have developed their positions through the judicial interpretation of constitutional or civil procedure provisions.107 For the purpose of illustrating the distinct types of national approaches to illegally obtained evidence in civil procedure, some of these national jurisdictions shall be covered in more detail below. evidence, in law, any of the material items or assertions of fact that may be submitted to a competent tribunal as a means of ascertaining the truth of any alleged matter of fact under investigation before it. 50(2) of the Constitution); Spain (Art. I.e. Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Merits, Judgment, I.C.J. The state has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, while the defendant may present evidence to challenge the state's case. The second track of this discussion on general principles examines whether a general principle of inadmissibility of illegally obtained evidence may be derived from domestic legislations. See Chelsea Mannings conviction under, inter alia, the Espionage Act and Julian Assanges recent indictment for conspiracy to commit computer hacking: United States v. Manning, 78 M.J. 501 (United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals 2018), p. 506; Julian Assange Arrested in London as U.S. Unseals Hacking Conspiracy Indictment, 11 April 2019, New YorkTimes,availableathttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/europe/julian-assange-wikileaks-ecuador-embassy.html?module=inline; Philipp Janig, Julians Golden Cage: Julian Assange, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Quest for Scholarly Diligence A Case Study, 18 Austrian Review of International and European Law (2016), 18, 21. 135. In the seven decades that have passed since Corfu Channel, old issues remained unresolved, and more challenging factual scenarios have been added to the discussion. Constitution of the Russian Federation, 12 December 1993, available at Government of the Russian Federation, http://archive.government.ru/eng/gov/base/54.html. Courts and tribunals of general jurisdiction could proceed in two ways. The more widespread interpretation in the subsequent debate51 is that, as the Court did not discuss the admissibility of such evidence in Corfu Channel, it also did not establish a general rule on inadmissibility. 210(f), findings of Secretary of Agriculture prima facie evidence in action for damages against stockyard owner; 7 U.S.C. This article discusses whether today, there are international rules or principles governing the admissibility of unlawfully acquired evidence and applies a two . Even if general principles exist in national systems, they may not automatically translate into principles applicable in international law due to structural differences between the systems.152 It is indeed true that the issues faced in international disputes are distinct, not only due to the sovereignty of the parties, but also since courts face more problems in obtaining evidence and are greatly reliant on the evidence provided to them.153 This article therefore argues for a solution that meets the special needs of the international legal system by providing the necessary flexibility, while setting clear standards that enhance transparency for states. Admissible. Athanassios Kaissis, Exclusion of Illegally Obtained Evidence in Greek Penal and Civil Proceedings, Digesta (2015), 458. 46 (One of the basic principles governing the creation and performance of legal obligations, whatever their source, is the principle of good faith. A method of authentication in which evidence is presented showing that the photograph or recording has been in the constant possession of one or more persons, and that the evidence is in the same condition as it was originally. The only provisions that may be considered to speak to the admissibility of evidence are those restricting the late submission of evidence,15 or those prescribing that annexes should only contain relevant documents.16 Article 30, paragraph 1, of the ICJ Statute puts forth that the Court shall frame rules for carrying out its functions and lay down rules of procedure.17 The ICJ has not fully exercised this rule-making power with respect to the admissibility of evidence, and consequently, all evidence is admissible and the Court is free in assessing the probative value of it.18 The Courts established approach is, as held in Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda), that it, will identify the documents relied on and make its own clear assessment of their weight, reliability and value. STL-1101/T/TC, ICL 1051, Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Decision on the admissibility of documents published on WikiLeaks website, 21 May 2015. There are many different types of evidence including the testimony from a witness given in For this purpose, the article will first examine procedural frameworks of international courts and tribunals and treaty provisions that regulate the admission of unlawfully acquired evidence (see infra, 2), as well as how and under which guiding principles international courts and tribunals have dealt with such evidence (see infra, 3). Nowak and McArthur, supra note 29, at 504. 2. Ayyash et al., supra note 75, para. Ibid., Art. The most prominently cited decision on the subject of unlawfully obtained evidence is the ICJs judgment in Corfu Channel. 3.3.2 The admissibility of polygraph evidence in various jurisdictions 73 3.3.2.1 The admissibility of polygraph evidence in the United States 74 3.3.2.2 Polygraph evidence in South Africa 78 3.4 Bite mark evidence 79 3.4.1 The analysis of bite marks 80 3.4.2 Challenges to the admissibility ofbite mark evidence 81 Brd Moriarty, Evidence in Civil Law Ireland (2015), 108109; Nunner-Krautgasser and Anzenberger, supra note 100, at 205. 16.77. Admittedly, the courts broad powers already allow them to ascertain the weight and relevance of particular evidence, and the experienced international benches will not need protection from potentially unreliable evidence.154 However, it is also obvious that the great potential for abuse in the field of unlawfully acquired evidence, coupled with widespread confusion as to how such evidence should be dealt with by judicial bodies, creates an undesirable status quo. Methanex Corporation v. United States of America, UNCITRAL, Final Award of 3 August 2005, Part II, Chapter I, para. Caruso, supra note 138, at 102; Uniform Evidence Manual, Published in Melbourne by the Judicial College of Victoria, available at: http://www.judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/eManuals/UEM/28738.htm. IT-0474-AR73.16, Decision on Jadranko Prlis Interlocutory Appeal against the Decision on Prli Defence Motion for Reconsideration of the Decision on Admission of Documentary Evidence, 3 November 2009, paras. Australian Law Reform Committee, Discretionary and Mandatory Exclusions, Uniform Evidence Law (ALRC Report 102), para. All of these forms of evidence must be admissible, though, before they can be considered as probative of an issue in a trial. The extent to which these types of digital evidences are appreciated by the courts to treat . Art. A Comparative Analysis of the Regime of Illegally Obtained Evidence in Civil Law Proceedings between Italy and England, 21 Maastricht Journal of European & Comparative Law (2014), 428, 436437. Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (New Application: 2002) (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Rwanda), Jurisdiction and Admissibility, Judgment, I.C.J. 2000); David Taylor, Should It Take a Thief? 22, 24, 31. EDF (Services) Limited v. Romania, ICSID Case No. In Persia International Bank PLC v. Council of the European Union, the ECJ ruled in favor of admitting diplomatic cables submitted by the applicant which originated from WikiLeaks. The different variations of this balance of interests test share common criteria. Although the Court appointed independent experts to corroborate many of the factual claims, in its questions to the experts, it specifically requested them to determine whether the mines that struck the two vessels were of the same type as the two mines obtained during the unlawful mission, thereby proving that the mines causing the explosion could not have been floating mines as Albania claimed. Giorgio Gaja, General Principles of Law, in R. Wolfrum (ed. In the procedural framework of international criminal courts and tribunals, the problem of unlawfully obtained evidence is addressed quite prominently. It considers the legal ramifications and the evolving nature of cyber technical and digital objects. In that regard, the Tribunal shares the position of the Methanex award.69. In EDF v. Romania, the tribunal excluded an audio-tape, meant to prove an allegation of corruption, primarily on the basis of a lack of authenticity (see also infra, 3.3).68 However, it also appeared to have considered the unlawful creation of the evidence in its decision to exclude it. 3. 59. This article proposes handling unlawfully acquired evidence by applying a defined, yet flexible balancing test using criteria commonly applied in international and national practice. Each type of evidence has its own rules for establishing relevance and being authenticated, two requirements for admissibility. ), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (2012), 553. Douglas Clark, Patent Litigation in China (2011), 113114. 2.1.2.4 The admissibility and relevance of evidence from a pointing out 10-16 2.1.3 The requirements of admissibility of an admission 16 2.1.3.1 The element of voluntariness at common law 16-17 2.1.3.2 Threat 17-18 2.1.3.3 Authority 18-19 2.1.3.4 Requirements of voluntariness in section 219A of the Act 19-20 2.2 Confessions 20 Click the card to flip . [2/2] This program will discuss decisions from NY appellate/trial courts that involved evidence and related trial practice issues. Irish Leaving Certificate; FETAC qualifications; GCSE/Advanced GCE (A-Level) Other examination systems; Course Specific requirements. See, for instance, on international criminal courts: Vladimir Tochilovsky, Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Courts and the European Court of Human Rights: Procedure and Evidence (2007), 762; Petra Viebig, Illicitly Obtained Evidence at the International Criminal Court (2016), 65.
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