Wright v. Tatham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wright v. Tatham (1838) is a famous House of Lords decision on the use of hearsay within a trial. The case was further one of the main inspirations for Dickens' Bleak House.

The decision was later upheld by the House of Lords in R. v. Kearly (1992).

The case appears in numerous treatises and evidence text books because of the difficult hearsay issue it raised (note: the conclusion is not consistent with modern U.S. hearsay law). Baron Parke held that conduct consistent with a belief in a fact is hearsay when offered to prove the existence of that fact. The approach taken by Federal Rules of Evidence 801(a) does not yield the same result, as it requires that there be an intention to assert, which was absent from the "statement" in Wright v. Tatham.