{"id":13632,"date":"2018-02-11T02:37:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T02:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13632"},"modified":"2023-04-16T22:36:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-16T22:36:32","slug":"evidence-testimony-documents-tangible-objects-which-prove-or-disprove-the-existence-of-an-alleged-fact","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13632","title":{"rendered":"Evidence – testimony, documents, and tangible objects which prove or disprove the existence of an alleged fact"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Court Proceedings<\/a> >>>> Terms used in Civil and <\/em>Criminal Proceedings<\/a>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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evidence<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong>
\nn<\/em>. (14c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Something (including testimony, documents, and tangible objects) that tends to prove or disprove the existence of an alleged fact; anything presented to the senses and offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact<\/strong> <the bloody glove is the key piece of evidence for the prosecution>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> A fact that a tribunal considers in reaching a conclusion; a fact that has been admitted into evidence in a trial or hearing. <\/strong>\u2014 aka fact in evidence<\/span><\/em><\/strong>.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The collective mass of things, especially testimony and exhibits, presented before a tribunal in a given dispute<\/strong> <the evidence will show that the defendant breached the contract>. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

4. The body of law regulating the admissibility of what is offered as proof into the record of a legal proceeding<\/strong> <under the rules of evidence, the witness\u2019s statement is inadmissible hearsay that is not subject to any exception>.<\/strong> \u2014 aka (in sense 4) rules of <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/span>evidence<\/strong><\/em><\/span>; law of evidence<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. \u2014 evidence<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, vb<\/em>. [1]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The means by which any matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, may be established or disproved.\u00a0 That which demonstrates, makes clear, or ascertains the truth of the very fact or point in issue, either on the one side or the other. Lynch v Rosenberger<\/em>, 121 Kan 601, 249 P 682, 60 ALR 376<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The law of evidence embraces those rules which determine what testimony is to be admitted or rejected in the trial of a civil action or a criminal prosecution and what weight is to be given to evidence which is admitted. 29 Am J2d Ev \u00a7 1<\/span>.<\/strong> [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The means by which any matter of fact may be established or disproved.\u00a0 Such means include testimony, documents, and physical objects.\u00a0 The law of evidence is made up of rules that determining what evidence is to be admitted or rejected in the trial of a civil action or a criminal prosecution and what weight is to be given to admitted evidence.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

verb<\/em><\/strong><\/span>: To demonstrate; to establish; to reveal; to show; to indicate; to prove.<\/strong> [3]
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from James B. Thayer’s Presumptions and the Law of Evidence<\/em><\/a> (1889):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEvidence is any matter of fact which is furnished to a legal tribunal, otherwise than by reasoning or a reference to what is noticed without proof, as the basis of inference in ascertaining some other matter of fact.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Charles Frederic Chamberlayne’s A Treatise on the Modern Law of Evidence<\/em><\/a> (1911):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe \u2018rules of evidence\u2019 are such precepts in the general subject of judicial administration as determine the manner in which a designated fact submitted to judicial decision may be proved; whether such a fact may be proved at all; if so, who are competent to prove it and under what conditions. in the aggregate, these rules constitute the \u2018law of evidence!<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Corpus Juris Secundum, Evidence<\/em> (1996):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEvidence, broadly defined, is the means from which an inference may logically be drawn as to the existence of a fact; that which makes evident or plain.\u00a0 Evidence is the demonstration of a fact; it signifies that which <\/span><\/span><\/strong>demonstrates, makes clear, or ascertains the truth of the very fact or point in issue, either on the one side or on the other.\u00a0 In legal acceptation, the term \u2018evidence\u2019 includes all the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is established or disproved.\u00a0 \u2018Evidence\u2019 has also been defined to mean any species of proof legally presented at the trial of an issue, by the act of the parties and through the medium of witnesses, records, documents, concrete objects, and the like.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [6]<\/span><\/p>\n

Related Terms:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

exhibit<\/span><\/a> – a document, record, or other tangible object formally introduced as evidence in court.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

fact<\/span><\/a> – a deed; an act; that which exists and is real and true \u2014 which actually<\/em> took place \u2014 not that which might<\/em> not have occurred.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

proof<\/span><\/a> – the effect of evidence; the establishment of a fact by evidence.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n