Recent trends in evidence law in China and the new evidence scholarship

Abstract

This paper reviews the history and status quo of evidence theory in China and analyses its grad- ual shift from a pluralistic evidence law to a model informed by scientific evidence scholarship. It compares fundamental distinctions on evidence and judicial proof between the contemporary ev- idence theories of China and those in Anglo-American law. The paper reveals that no matter what the evidence system is, the common method of discovering truth plays an important role in the modernization of evidence theory as such theory moves towards a comprehensive evidence schol- arship. By shedding light on the theoretical framework of a comprehensive evidence scholarship and the increasing use of scientific ideas in evidence law, our theoretical perspective shows that the framework of a comprehensive evidence scholarship consists of four interdependent and overlapping components.