I.

I. Introduction

Traditionally, the substantive use of learned treatises at trial has been barred as hearsay because the declarant is not available for cross-examination.(1) For more than a hundred however, New York courts have recognized the right of a party to cross-examine an adroit witness from a published source that the skilled hand has acknowledged to be a standard work in a field of science. As early as 1896 the Appellate Division observ that cross-examination of prompts from treatises was "the custom, in this state," and the court was "not aware of any

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