In this important book, a distinguished legal scholar examines how the legal culture and institutions in Anglo-American countries affect the way in which evidence is gathered, sifted, and presented to the courts. Mirjan Damaska focuses on the significance of the divided tribunal (the judge-jury division), the concentrated character of trials ("day-in-court" justice), and the prominent role of the parties in adjudication (the adversary system). Throughout he contrasts the Anglo-American system with continental, or civil law justice, where lay fact finders sit with professional judges in unified tribunals, proceedings are episodic rather than concentrated, and the parties have fewer responsibilities than in the common law tradition. Damaska describes the impact of the traditional institutional environment on the gathering and handling of evidence in common law jurisdictions and then explores the more recent transformations of this environment: trial by jury has dramatically declined, pretrial proceedings have greatly proliferated, the adversary, system shows signs of weakening in some types of cases. As a result, many rules and practices supporting the treatment of evidentiary material face the danger of becoming extinct. In addition, says Damaska, the increasing use of scientific methods of inquiry could place further strains on the use of traditional common law evidence. In the future we should expect greater variety in decision-making activity, with factual inquiries tailored to the specific type of proceeding and common law evidence restricted to a narrow sphere.

米尔建·R.达马斯卡（Mirjan R.Damaska，也被译为达玛什卡），原前南斯拉夫人，现加入美国国籍。主要研究领域为刑法与刑事司法、证据学、社会主义法律制度以及比较法。

1955年毕业于前南斯拉夫萨格勒布大学(University of Za-gred)，获法学学士学位。

1960年在卢布雅那大学(University of Ljubljana)获法学博士学位。

1956-1957年在前南斯拉夫的审判法院和上诉法院担任书记员。

1961-1962年在宾夕法尼亚大学(Uviversity of Pennsylvania)作"两百周年校庆纪念访问学者"(Bicentennial Fellow)。

1964年和1965年暑期任卢森堡国际比较法学院教授。

1966-1968年任宾夕法尼亚大学客座教授。

1968-1973年任萨格勒布大学教授，期间，于1970年出任系主任。

1970-1971年任宾夕法尼亚大学教授。

1975-1982年为耶鲁大学教授。

1982-1996年为耶鲁大学福特基金讲座教授。

1996年至今，任耶鲁大学斯特林(Sterling)讲座教授。