New book: “International Electronic Evidence”

An increasing number of civil and criminal proceedings involve the use of digital evidence across jurisdictional boundaries. Digital evidence now affects every aspect of law, including contract, employment, family, crime, intellectual property and land law; in effect, no area of law is excluded, and digital evidence has become of greater importance now the Internet and World Wide Web have become ubiquitous.

It is increasingly apparent that criminals and terrorists target the electronic environment to steal, carry out extortion and abuse children across jurisdictions. Additionally, both public and commercial organizations now rely on the digital environment to such an extent that it has become critical to business and, perhaps, the survival of the State.

The book provides guidance on digital evidence across the 35 jurisdictions listed below, covering:

• The substantive law of evidence, covering the types of evidence, admissibility of evidence, weight, proof, electronic signatures, presumptions and inferences.
• Civil proceedings, pre-trial, urgent search and seizure orders, preservation of evidence, rules on disclosure, confidentiality and privilege.
• Criminal proceedings, pre-trial, powers of search and seizure, the obligations of both prosecution and defence respecting the disclosure of evidence before trial, including the consequences of non-disclosure, human rights issues in relation to the gathering of evidence, the trial and how a defendant may challenge the authenticity of digital evidence.

International Electronic Evidence
British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 2008
1002pp

Preface can be downloaded in a pdf format over here.