Abstract
Between the late nineteenth century and the 1950s, the project of establishing a science of proof was shared by a generation of criminologists, psychologists and lawyers specializing in evidence law. Their ambition was to develop theoretical and practical knowledge of the analysis and evaluation of evidence in the courts, drawing on new knowledge established in the then-emerging fields of social psychology and forensic science and technology. All this was combined with an effort to provide judges with tools capable of guiding the rigour of their reasoning with evidence. This project, which is fundamentally interdisciplinary and breaks with a dogmatic orientation in legal analysis, was made possible by an important dialogue on both side of the Atlantic. The circulation of knowledge engaged in the science of evidence was remarkable, both in Europe and between Europe and the United States, as illustrated by the figures of Wigmore and Gorphe. The conditions that allowed the development of a science of proof project to flourish disappeared after the War and this project would not be taken on by a new generation. Research in these areas continued separately in an increasingly fragmented disciplinary landscape. This article retraces this history and sheds light on the reasons for the weakening, and the recomposition, of the science of proof at the end of the Second World War.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The same holds true of G. F. Arnold’s Psychology applied to legal evidence (1906) which built on psychology to come to conclusions and advice as regards evidence in court: “This work does not claim to be an original treatise on either Psychology or Law. The author has merely aimed at applying the conclusions of the former to legal evidence and other doctrines and constructions of legal writers” (vii).
- 3.
As Gross states, “the study of the human soul as psychology, has for its subject the whole stream of conscious life and for its aim the discovery of the occurrence and relation of the laws of human thought” (1911, p. 105).
- 4.
This journal was edited from 1927 to 1939 by the Institut Pelman, which contributed in the 1920s to the elaboration of methods for the individual training of mental capacities.
- 5.
“Though it is not the lawyer’s problem to take an attitude with regard to philosophical skepticism, his work becomes essentially easier through the study of Hume’s doctrines” (p. 129).
References
Adam Hargrave L (1908) The story of crime. T. Werner Laurie, London
Adler K (2007) The lie detectors. The history of an American obsession. Free Press, New York
Anderson T, Twining W (1991) Analysis of evidence. How to do things with facts based on Wigmore’s science of judicial proof. Northwestern University Press, Evanston
Arnold GF (1906) Psychology applied to legal evidence and other constructions of law. Thacker, Spink and Co., Calcutta
Audren F, Barbou des Places S (eds) (2018) Qu’est-ce qu’une discipline juridique? Fondation et recomposition des disciplines dans les facultés de droit. LGDJ, Paris
Audren F, Halperin J-L (2013) La culture juridique française. Entre mythes et réalités. XIXe-XXe siècles. CNRS éditions, Paris
Becker P, Wetzell RF (2006) Criminals and their scientists: the history of criminology in international perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Binet A (1886) La psychologie du raisonnement. Recherches expérimentales par l’hypnotisme. Félix Alcan, Paris
Binet A (1899) The psychology of reasoning, based on experimental research in hypnotism. The Open Court Publ. Co., Chicago
Binet A (1900) La suggestibilité. Schleicher Frères, Paris
Binet A (1903) L’étude expérimentale de l’intelligence. Schleicher Frères, Paris
Binet A (1904) La science du témoignage. L’Année psychologique 11:128–136
Burrill AM (1868) A treatise on the nature, principles and rules of circumstantial evidence. Baker, Voorhis & Co., New York
Chafee Z (1929) Review of F. Gorphe, La critique du témoignage. Harv Law Rev 42(6):839–843
Champeil-Desplats V (2016) Méthodologies du droit et des sciences du droit. Dalloz, Paris
Claparède E (1905) La psychologie judiciaire. L’Année psychologique 12:275–302
Clark TN (1973) Prophets and Patrons: The French University and the emergence of the social sciences. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Colson R (2013) Criminology à la française. Br J Criminol 53(4):552–567
Duprat GL (1903) Le mensonge: étude de psychologie pathologique et normale. Félix Alcan, Paris
Duprat GL (1920) La psychologie sociale. Sa nature et ses principales lois. Octave Doin, Paris
Dupré E (1910) Le témoignage: étude psychologique et médico-légale. Revue des Deux Mondes 55:343–370
Durkheim E (1895) Les règles de la méthode sociologique. Félix Alcan, Paris
Gorphe F (1924) La critique du témoignage. Dalloz, Paris
Gorphe F (1929) L’éducabilité du Témoignage. La Psychologie et la Vie: Revue de psychologie appliquée 3:53–55
Gorphe F (1947) L’appréciation des preuves en justice. Essai d’une méthode technique. Sirey, Paris
Gorphe F (1952) Les décisions de justice. Etude psychologique et judiciaire. Sirey, Paris
Gorphe F (1957) Le rôle des psychologues dans les examens en justice. Bulletin de psychologie 11(12):149
Gorphe F (1959) La psychologie appliquée en justice. In: Piéron H et al (eds) Traité de psychologie appliquée, Livre VII: Les grands domaines d’application. Puf, Paris, pp 1395–1790
Grassberger R (1956) Pioneers in criminology. XIII Hans Gross (1847–1915). J Crim Law Criminol Police Sci 47(4):397–405
Greenleaf S (1899) A treatise on the law of evidence, 16th edn. Revised, Enlarged and Annotated by J. H. Wigmore. Little, Brown & Co., Boston
Gross H (1906) Criminal investigation. A practical handbook for magistrates, police officers, and lawyers (trans: Adam J, Adam JC). A. Krishnamachari, Madras
Gross H (1911) Criminal psychology. A manual for judges, practitioners, and students (trans: Kallen HM). Little, Brown & Co, Boston
Hale M Jr (1980) Human science and social order. Hugo Münsterberg and the origin of applied psychology. Temple University Press, Philadelphia
Hall GS (1891) Children’s lies. Pedagogical Seminary 1(2):211–218
Heilbron J (1995) The rise of social theory. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Heilbron J (2003) A regime of disciplines. Towards a historical sociology of disciplinary knowledge. In: Camic C, Joas H (eds) The dialogical turn: new roles for sociology in the postdisciplinary age. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
James W (1890) The principles of psychology, 2 vol. Henry Holt & Co., New York
James GF (1940) The contribution of Wigmore to the law of evidence. Univ Chic Law Rev 8(1):78–87
Kaluszynski M et al (2005) Histoire de la criminologie. Criminocorpus. https://journals.openedition.org. Accessed 15 Sept 2019
Kargon R (1986) Expert testimony in historical perspective. Law Hum Behav 10(1-2):15–27
Kleinfeller G (1930) Review of F. Gorphe, La critique du témoignage. Archiv für die civilistische Praxis 3:370–372
Larguier des Bancels J (1905) La psychologie judiciaire. L’Année psychologique 12:157–232
Leclerc O (2021) A critical method for the evaluation of evidence. François Gorphe’s (1889–1959) contribution to a science of Proof à la française. Quaestio Facti. Int J Evidential Leg Reason 2:29–52
Lipmann O (1908) Die Wirkung von Suggestivfragen. Barth, Leipzig
Locard E (1920) L’enquête criminelle et les méthodes scientifiques. Flammarion, Paris
Maguire JM (1963) Wigmore – two centuries. Nw Univ Law Rev 58:456–460
Mannheim H (1955) Review of F. Gorphe, Les Décisions de justice: Etude psychologique et judiciaire. Br J Delinquency 5(2):163
Millar RW (1955) Pioneers in criminology. VI. John Henry Wigmore (1863–1943). J Crim Law Criminol Police Sci 46(1):4–10
Mitchell CA (1911) Science and the criminal. Brown, Little & Co, Boston
Mittermaier CJA (1834) Die Lehre vom Beweise im deutschen Strafprozesse nach der Fortbildung durch Gerichtsgebrauch und deutsche Gesetzbücher in Vergleichung mit den Ansichten des englischen und französischen Strafverfahrens. J W Heyer, Darmstadt
Moore C C (1908) A treatise on facts or the weight and value of evidence. Edward Thompson Company, Northport
Mucchielli L (1995) Histoire de la criminologie française. L’Harmattan, Paris
Mucchielli L (1998) La découverte du social. Naissance de la sociologie en France. La Découverte, Paris
Münsterberg H (1908) On the witness stand. Essays on psychology and crime. The McClure Company, New York
Murphy T (1997) The oldest social science? Configurations of law and modernity. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Nemethy I (1957) Review of F. Gorphe, Les Décisions de justice: Etude psychologique et judiciaire. Am J Comp Law 1:146–147
Nicolas S, Segui J, Lefrand L (2000) Les premières revues de psychologie: la place de L’Année Psychologique. L’Année psychologique 100(1):71–110
Nicolas S, Gras D, Segui J (2011) Alfred Binet et le laboratoire de Psychologie de la Sorbonne. L’Année psychologique 111(2):291–325
Piazza P, Marlet R (2019) La science à la poursuite du crime. D’Alphonse Bertillon aux experts d’aujourd’hui. Editions de La Martinière, Paris
Piéron H (1924) Recension F. Gorphe, La critique du témoignage, 1924. L’Année sociologique 1:579
Porwancher A (2016) John Henry Wigmore and the rules of evidence: the hidden origins of modern law. University of Missouri Press, Columbia
Radin M (1929) Review of F. Gorphe, La critique du témoignage. Calif Law Rev 1:95–96
Ram J (1870) A treatise on facts as subjects of inquiry by a jury, first American edition by J. Townshend. Baker, Voorhis & Co, New York
Riles A (2001) Encountering amateurism: John Henry Wigmore and the uses of American formalism. In: Riles A (ed) Rethinking the masters of comparative law. Hart, Oxford, pp 94–126
Roalfe WR (1977) John Henry Wigmore. Scholar and reformer. Northwestern University Press, Evanston
Rottschaefer H (1929) Review of F. Gorphe, Le principe de la bonne foi. Michigan Law Rev 27:601–604
Schum D (1994) The evidential foundations of probabilistic reasoning. Northwestern University Press, Evanston
Simonin A (2007) Éloge de l’éclectisme. Penser le champ ‘Droit et Littérature’ à partir des listes de Legal Novels (1900–1987). Textyles 31:12–27
Slesinger D (1927) Review of F. Gorphe, La critique du témoignage. Yale Law J 37(3):399–403
Stern W (1902a) Zur Psychologie der Aussage. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft 22(2-3):362–418
Stern W (1902b) Zur Psychologie der Aussage. Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Erinnerungstreue. Guttentag, Berlin
Stern W (1910) Abstracts of lectures on the psychology of testimony and on the study of individuality. Am J Psychol 21(2):270–282
Sully J (1892) The human mind. A text-book in psychology. D. Appleton & Co, New York
Thayer JB (1898) A preliminary treatise on evidence at the common law. Little, Brown & Co, Boston
Train AC (1906) The prisoner at the bar. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York
Train AC (1912) Why do men kill? Collier’s Weekly, 27 January 1912
Twining W (1985) Theories of evidence: Bentham and Wigmore. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
Twining W (1990) Rethinking evidence. Exploratory essays. Northwestern University Press, Evanston
Varendonck J (1911) Les témoignages d’enfants dans un procès retentissant. Archives de Psychologie 7:129–171
Varendonck J (1914) La psychologie du témoignage. Maison d’éditions & d’impression, Gand
Vollmer A (1941) John H. Wigmore and the modern police. J Crim Law Criminol 32(3):293–296
Wetzell R (2000) Inventing the criminal. A history of German criminology, 1880–1945. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
Whipple GM (1909) The observer as reporter: a survey of the ‘Psychology of Testimony’. Psychol Bull 6(5):153–170
Whipple GM (1910) Manual of mental and physical tests. A book of directions compiled with special reference to the experimental study of school children. Warwick and York, Baltimore
Wigmore JH (1905) Treatise on the system of evidence in trials at common law, including the statutes and judicial decisions of all jurisdictions of the United States. Little, Brown & Co, Boston
Wigmore JH (1909) Professor Muensterberg and the psychology of testimony. Illinois Law Rev 3:399
Wigmore JH (1913a) The problem of proof. Illinois Law Rev 8(2):77–103
Wigmore JH (1913b) The principles of judicial proof as given by logic, psychology, and general experience and illustrated in judicial trials. Little, Brown & Co, Boston
Wigmore JH (1913c) Introduction. In: Gest JM (eds) The lawyer in literature. The Boston Book Company, Boston, pp vii–x
Wigmore JH (1937) The science of judicial proof, 3rd edn. Little, Brown & Co, Boston
Wolffram H (2018) Forensic psychology in Germany: witnessing crime, 1880–1939. Palgrave Macmillan, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Leclerc, O. (2021). Can There Be a Science of Proof? A Cross-Atlantic Dialogue (1898–1947). In: Klappstein, V., Dybowski, M. (eds) Theory of Legal Evidence - Evidence in Legal Theory. Law and Philosophy Library, vol 138. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83841-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83841-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83840-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83841-6
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)