Propensity Evidence in Continental Legal Systems

Abstract

Anyone expecting to find elaborate doctrines in continental European evidence law regarding information about a person's character, predilections, or incidents from past life, is bound to be disappointed. Most problems that engage common law lawyers in connection with the employment of this information-subsumed in what follows under the general label of "propensity evidence"-seem to have received only scant attention by continental courts and commentators. Statutory provisions on the subject are few and far between.