Talk:Real evidence

Origin of physical evidence

I haven't been able to find anything specific enough to put on Wikipedia, but the concept of real evidence being accepted as legitimate, rather than relying on character witness and eyewitness testimony, is supposedly quite recent in the grand scheme of things. Part of what made Sherlock Holmes such a novel character, in the late 1800s when Doyle was writing those books, is that he largely relied on physical findings rather than witnesses, which was as exciting and new a concept then as DNA evidence was in the 1980s. (Understandably so - it's much easier for a stealthy burglar to rob someone when they just have to avoid being seen by those within the house, rather than having to worry about fingerprints and DNA residue and the myriad other traces that would be left behind.) 24.69.217.16 (talk) 18:16, 9 September 2013 (UTC)