Attorney DC Bar Mar 2, 2008:

OK. Sorry if I ruffled any feathers. I just get a bit testy when I see this sort of thing occurring... I would probably say 'produced' or 'offered' in practice-- adduced is the more formal term.

Paul Reeve (asker) Mar 2, 2008:

The way the titles are incorporated into the notes is quite unfortunate: it appears that I was referring specifically to the first point there, which I wasn't.
Anyway.

Paul Reeve (asker) Mar 2, 2008:

Easy tiger Is the original legislation also unreliable, vis à vis the use of the singular for example?

You may be right about there being no (stable, standardized, relevant) difference between uses of "adduce" and "produce" in this context (my apologies too for failing to notice that you had suggested this as well). The relevant definitions of the two words on dictionary.com, for example, do suggest a difference of the kind I mention -- between citing evidence in favour of a case or argument, and actually presenting the items that constitute the evidence. The definitions at http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com (derived from West's Encyclopedia of American Law) are very explicit on the fact that "produce" refers to physical presentation of evidence, and not specific in this way on "adduce." None of this shows that you're mistaken, of course. You might want to be a bit gentler about making your case next time all the same, it seems to me.

Adrian MM. (X) Mar 2, 2008:

I am at one with rufinus on 1) & 2). Other terms used in the UK are 'to lead/bring' evidence. My reservation re the latter is that such evidence may never go before the court. The OED narrow def. of adduce is citation, but does inc. discovery/disclosure.

Attorney DC Bar Mar 2, 2008:

OK. 1. Legifrance, and the legal translations on official French government websites are notoriously unreliable. 2. I see no material difference between 'adduced as evidence' and 'produced as evidence' or 'offered as evidence'.

Paul Reeve (asker) Mar 2, 2008:

"produced" is probably better I chose the answer above with the intention of using only "presented": in fact, I wrote a message when I accepted that indicated this. I think you're right that "for discussion" is wrong in this context. Perhaps for that reason I shouldn't have accepted the answer, although I made my qualification explicit (at least I tried to, it didn't show up here it seems).

My bad for overlooking in this case (not in general) a most obvious source -- official translations of French legislation online. For an example translation of the plural form of the phrase, see the first sentence of Article 344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in French here:
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle...
and in English here:
http://195.83.177.9/code/liste.phtml?lang=uk&c=34&r=3965
or Article 765 of the Penal Code in French here:
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle...
and in English here:
http://195.83.177.9/code/liste.phtml?lang=uk&c=39&r=7265

In both cases they have it as PROduced, not ADduced. If I get it right, the difference is that in the former case the evidence is physically presented(!), whereas in the latter it is cited in favour of an argument.
See here:
http://www.wordreference.com/definition/adduce
and here: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=adduce
and definition 6 here:
http://www.wordreference.com/definition/produce

But see also the singular form of the phrase (*ahem!*), "versé au débat", which is the one found in the document I am translating, in the sixth-to-last sentence of Article 41-2 of the Code de procédure pénale, in the original here:
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCodeArticle.do?idArticle...
and in English here:
http://195.83.177.9/code/liste.phtml?lang=uk&c=34&r=3907

In this case they don't even bother translating the phrase at all, suggesting that it isn't a strict formula but simply a way of indicating that something has been brought into the proceedings -- presented, I'd almost be tempted to say.

I will in fact use "produced" instead. I'll see about getting this entry fixed up.