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23 Pac. L. J. 1005 (1991-1992)
Resurrecting California's Old Law on Character Evidence

handle is hein.journals/mcglr23 and id is 1107 raw text is: Resurrecting California's Old Law on Character Evidence Edward J. Imwinkelried* and Miguel A. M6ndez** INTRODUCTION One of the cardinal differences between accusatorial and inquisitorial systems of criminal justice is that in the former, the prosecution may not use evidence of the accused's character to prove that the accused committed a specific antisocial act.1 Accusatorial systems hold individuals criminally responsible only for what they do and not for what they are.'2 In contrast, inquisitorial systems permit trial by dossier'3 and routinely admit evidence of all of the accused's past misdeeds.4 It is an axiom of American penal law that the accused need answer only for the crime with which he is currently charged.5 The Supreme Court has elevated this principle to constitutional status * Professor of Law, University of California, at Davis; B.A. 1967 University of San Francisco; J.D. 1969 University of San Francisco. ** Professor ofLaw, Stanford University. A.B. 1965 The George Washington University; J.D. 1968 The George Washington University. Research for this article was supported by a bequest to Stanford Law School from the Claire and Michael Brown Estate. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Mr. David Kombluh, Class of 1992, University of California, at Davis, Law School, who served as the authors' research assistant on this project, and to Victoria S. Diaz for her invaluable commenti. 1. D. ELLOTT, PHIPSON AND ELuoTr MANUAL OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE 202 (11th ed. 1980); A. ZuCKERMAN, THE PiNCiPLEs OF CRIMINAL EViDENCE 232 (1989) (stating that this is ..one of the most deeply rooted and jealously guarded principles of our criminal law). 2. H. PACKER, THE LIMrrs OF THE CRIMINAL SANCTION 73-74 (1968). 3. Bemyk v. State, 182 Ga. App. 329, 332, 355 S.E.2d 753, 755 (1987) (Beasley, I., concurring). 4. Orfield, Relevancy in Criminal Evidence, 43 Na. L. REV. 485, 519 (1963). 5. Comment, State v. Ellis: The Other Wrongful Acts Rule, Survey of Nebraska Law- Evidence, 15 CREIGHTON L REV. 281, 284 (1981). 1005

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