The second part of the work turns upon the suspicion of a definite
person when his own activity is interpolated as a cause of the crime.
Under some conditions again, the effect of the crime on the criminal has
to be examined, i.e., enrichment, deformation, emotional state, etc. But
the evidence of guilt is established only when the crime is accurately
and explicitly described as the inevitable result of the activity of the
criminal and his activity only. This systematic work of observing and
correlating every instant of the supposed activities of the accused
(once the situation of the crime is defined as certainly as possible),
is as instructive as it is promising of success. It is the one activity
which brings us into touch with bare perception and its reproduction.
“All inference with regard to facts appears to depend upon the relation
of cause to effect; by virtue of this relation alone may we rely upon
the evidence of our memories and our senses.”[131] Hume illustrates this
remark with the following example: If a clock or some other machine is
found on a desert island, the conclusion is drawn that men are or were
on the island. The application is easy enough. The presence of a clock,
the presence of a three-cornered wound is perceived by the senses--that
men were there, that the wound was made with a specific kind of
instrument, is a causal inference. Simple as this proposition of Hume’s
is, it is of utmost importance in the law because of the permanent and
continually renewed problems: What is the effect in _this_ case? What is
the cause? Do they belong together? Remembering that these questions
make our greatest tasks and putting them, even beyond the limit of
disgust, will save us from grave errors.
There is another important condition to which Hume calls attention and
which is interpreted by his clever disciple Meinong. It is a fact that
without the help of previous experience no causal nexus can be referred
to an observation, nor can the presence of such be discovered in
individual instances. It may be postulated only. A cause is essentially
a complex in which every element is of identical value. And this
circumstance is more complicated than it appears to be, inasmuch as it
requires reflection to distinguish whether only one or more observations
have been made. Strict self-control alone and accurate enumeration and
supervision will lead to a correct decision as to whether one or ten
observations have been made, or whether the notion of additional
observations is not altogether illusory.
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