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Key research themes
1. How do legal frameworks influence the admissibility and reliability standards of documentary evidence?
This research theme explores the interplay between law and forensic science in establishing standards that govern the admission and evaluation of documentary evidence in courts. The focus is on how legal precedents, evidentiary standards, and professional protocols affect the quality, reliability, and traceability of documentary evidence, especially in forensic anthropology, electronic data, and Shariah criminal cases. The theme underscores the necessity for harmonized standards to uphold justice and evidential integrity.
Key finding: This paper highlights the need for forensic anthropology to develop and adhere to rigorous professional standards in light of Supreme Court admissibility rulings (Daubert, Joiner, Kumho), emphasizing validation, error rate... Read more
Key finding: The study identifies a gap in Shariah legal provisions regarding the handling and admissibility of electronic documentary evidence, stressing that securing the chain of custody and evidence integrity during forensic... Read more
Key finding: This article critically evaluates the unique South African jurisprudential approach where relevance is interpreted through extra-legal logical and inferential principles rather than rigid rules. It clarifies distinctions... Read more
2. How can documentary sources be utilized to reconstruct historical and environmental phenomena?
This theme investigates methodologies for extracting, interpreting, and validating documentary evidence from historical records to reconstruct past events and natural hazards. It reflects on interdisciplinary approaches that integrate archival research, linguistic analysis, and scientific inference, highlighting documentary evidence as an indispensable tool for understanding historical environmental risks, dynasty histories, architectural heritage, and climate variability.
Key finding: This article articulates how primary and secondary historical documents—such as archival maps, photographs, newspapers, and inscriptions—are systematically analyzed to extend flood event records beyond instrumental data... Read more
Key finding: The paper presents a novel Greek manuscript marginal note chronicle elucidating internal succession conflicts in the 14th-century Saruhanid Emirate. Utilizing palaeographic and historiographic analysis, it demonstrates how... Read more
Key finding: Combining bibliographic study and archival source cross-referencing with structural surveys, this research reconstructs the complex transformation of a historically neglected church and monastery from the 16th to 19th... Read more
Key finding: Through meticulous examination of historical records, drawings, and comparative urban design principles, the study confirms the existence, layout, and cultural significance of the Grand Mosque of Melaka prior to Portuguese... Read more
3. What methodological challenges and solutions arise in the generation and evaluation of documentary-based indices for historical climatology and legal argumentation?
This theme addresses the interpretative and analytical frameworks employed in transforming documentary evidence into reliable indices for reconstructing climate variability and assessing legal arguments. It focuses on inter-rater reliability, semantic complexities of evidential markers, and structured legal reasoning methods designed to evaluate evidence quality, relevance, and credibility in documentary contexts.
Key finding: The study empirically assesses inter-rater variability in creating annual rainfall indices from historical textual descriptions, finding high reliability (r = 0.99 student raters; r = 0.94 professional raters). It quantifies... Read more
Key finding: Walton introduces a contextual, dialectical model of legal argumentation that critiques traditional deductive and inductive logic approaches. The framework delineates argumentation schemes (e.g., ad hominem, analogy,... Read more