As ever, we have striven in this edition to meet the original aims of the work: to explore the theory of the law as well as its practical application, bearing in mind the varied needs of our readers—judges, practitioners, and students at both the undergraduate and vocational stages; to state the law in a way which is both accurate and readable; and to focus, wherever possible, on modern aspects of the subject. We are particularly pleased that the work continues to be used by practitioners, as well as scholars and students of the subject, and that it has developed an international reputation and has been cited in a variety of courts around the world. The justifi cation for this new edition lies in the developments, since the eighth edition, of both law and legal scholarship in the fi eld. The work has been updated to cover all of the most recent case law, including the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Al-Khawaja and Tahery v UK (hearsay); the decisions of the Supreme Court in R v Horncastle (hearsay), Al Rawi v Security Service (closed material procedures and the use of special advocates), Re W (children) (children as witnesses in family proceedings), and R v Maxwell (illegally obtained evidence); and the decisions of the Court of Appeal in R v Majid (criminal standard of proof), R v GJB (good character directions in cases of historic sexual abuse), R v South (bad character of witnesses), R v C (presumption relating to convictions), R v Daniels (witnesses who agree to assist the state), R v Barker (competence of children in criminal cases), R v W (cross-examination of children), and R v Henderson (expert evidence). The new edition also considers the implications of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and the 2011 Law Commission Report on expert evidence. The authors remain grateful to OUP for their ongoing effi ciency and support and to readers for their helpful feedback. This edition is dedicated to Rosemary Samwell-Smith, who died in October 2010 after a long battle with cancer that was as dignifi ed as it was courageous. Rosie’s support for, and encouragement of, the authors of this work was quite boundless. She is sorely missed. We have attempted to state the law, accurately, as at 1 September 2011.