Trial by mathematics: precision and ritual in the legal process
Trial by mathematics: precision and ritual in the legal process
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数学审判：法律程序中的精确性和仪式性
DOI：
10.2307/1339610
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发表时间：
1971
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
L. Tribe
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
L. Tribe
Professor Tribe considers the accuracy, appropriateness, and possible dangers of utilizing mathematical methods in the legal process, first in the actual conduct of civil and criminal trials, and then in designing procedures for the trial system as a whole. He concludes that the utility of mathematical methods for these purposes has been greatly exaggerated. Even if mathematical techniques could significantly enhance the accuracy of the trial process, Professor Tribe also shows that their inherent conflict with other important values would be too great to allow their general use. THE system of legal proof that replaced trial by battle in TContinental Europe during the Middle Ages reflected a starkly numerical jurisprudence. The law typically specified how many uncontradicted witnesses were required to establish various categories of propositions, and defined precisely how many witnesses of a particular class or gender were needed to cancel the testimony of a single witness of a more elevated order.' So it was that medieval law, nurtured by the abstractions of scholas-ticism, sought in mathematical precision an escape from the perils of irrational and subjective judgment. In a more pragmatic era, it should come as no surprise that the search for objectivity in adjudication has taken another tack. Yesterday's practice of numerology has given way to today's theory of probability, currently the sine qua non of rational analysis. Without indulging in the dubious speculation that con
