Notes: Evidence Terms v.0.1

EVIDENCE

• the means, sanctioned by these rules, of ascertaining in a judicial proceeding, the truth respecting a matter of fact. (Rule 128, Sec. 1.)

JUDICIAL PROCEEDING

• Any court proceeding; any proceeding initiated to procure an order or decree, whether in law or in equity.

MATTER OF FACT

• A matter involving a judicial inquiry into the truth of alleged facts.

ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE

• Evidence that is relevant and is of such a character (not unfairly prejudicial, based on hearsay, or privileged) that the court should receive it. — Also termed competent evidence; proper evidence; legal evidence.

COMPETENT EVIDENCE

• evidence which is not excluded by the law or by the Rules of Court

RELEVANT EVIDENCE

• evidence which has a relation to the fact in issue as to induce belief in its existence or non-existence; evidence which tends in any reasonable degree to establish the probability or improbability of the fact in issue.

RELEVANCY ON COLLATERAL MATTERS

• evidence on collateral matters shall not be allowed EXCEPT when it tends in any reasonable degree to established the probability or improbability of the fact in issue.

MATERIAL EVIDENCE

• evidence which is directed to prove a fact in issue as determined by the rules of substantive law and pleadings; evidence of such quality of substantial importance to the particular issue, apart from its relevance
• The terms “relevant” and “material” are practically the same. They are used interchangeably by the SC.

EVIDENCE

• is the cause necessary to establish proof.

PROOF

• is the effect of evidence. It is the probative effect of evidence and is the conviction or persuasion of the mind resulting from a consideration of the latter.

BURDEN OF PROOF

• the duty of a party to present evidence on the facts in issue necessary to establish his claim or defense by the amount of evidence required by law

EVIDENTIARY PRIVILEGE

• entitles the privilege holder to withhold competent evidence and, in some circumstances, to prevent others from revealing such evidence. The privilege is granted when the protected interest is considered important enough to outweigh the concern with determining the truth. The privilege holder need not be a party to the proceeding in question. Unlike a disqualification, a privilege can be waived. Privileges are often intended to preserve confidential relationships.

EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE

• members of the executive branch of government cannot legally be forced to disclose their confidential communications when such disclosure would adversely affect the operations or procedures of the executive branch.

MANDATORY JUDICIAL NOTICE

• A court shall take judicial notice, without the introduction of evidence, of the existence and territorial extent of states, their political history, forms of government and symbols of nationality, the law of nations, the admiralty and maritime courts of the world and their seals, the political constitution and history of the Philippines, the official acts of the legislative, executive and judicial departments of the Philippines, the laws of nature, the measure of time, and the geographical divisions.

DISCRETIONARY JUDICIAL NOTICE

• A court may take judicial notice of matters which are of public knowledge, or are capable of unquestionable demonstration, or ought to be known to judges because of their judicial functions.

OBJECT (REAL) EVIDENCE

• evidence submitted during trial which represents the actual, physical thing sought to be proved. Objects as evidence are those addressed to the senses of the court. (murder weapon)

DEMONSTRATIVE EVIDENCE

• those that can only demonstrate conclusions made from a real thing (maps, charts, scale models)

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE

• Writings or any material containing letters, words, numbers, figures, symbols or other modes of written expression offered as proof of their contents.

BEST EVIDENCE

• Evidence of the highest quality available, as measured by the nature of the case rather than the thing being offered as evidence. The term is usually applied to writings and recordings. If the original is available, it must be offered rather than a copy or oral rendition.

BEST EVIDENCE RULE

• General Rule: When the subject of inquiry is the contents of a document, no evidence shall be admissible other than the original document itself.
• Exceptions:

1. When the original has been lost or destroyed, or cannot be produced in court, without bad faith on the part of the offeror;
2. When the original is in the custody or under the control of the party against whom the evidence is offered, and the latter fails to produce it after reasonable notice;
3. When the original consists of numerous accounts or other documents which cannot be examined in court without great loss of time and the fact sought to be established from them is only the general result of the whole; and
4. When the original is a public record in the custody of a public officer or is recorded in a public office.

ORIGINAL OF A DOCUMENT

1. The original of the document is one the contents of which are the subject of inquiry.
2. When a document is in two or more copies executed at or about the same time, with identical contents, all such copies are equally regarded as originals.
3. When an entry is repeated in the regular course of business, one being copied from another at or near the time of the transaction, all the entries are likewise equally regarded as originals.

DIRECT EVIDENCE

• evidence which proves a fact in dispute without the aid of any inference or presumption

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

• proof of facts from which, taken collectively, the existence of the particular fact in dispute may be inferred as a necessary or probable consequence

EXPERT EVIDENCE

• testimony of a witness regarding a question of science, art or trade, when he is skilled therein

PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE

• evidence which suffices for the proof of a particular fact until contradicted and overcome by other evidence

CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE

• evidence which is incontrovertible and which the law does not allow to be contradicted

CUMULATIVE EVIDENCE

• evidence of the same kind and character as that already given and tends to prove the same proposition

CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE

• evidence of a different kind and character tending to prove the same point

BEST EVIDENCE

• evidence which affords the greatest certainty of the fact in question

SECONDARY EVIDENCE

• evidence which is necessarily inferior to primary/best evidence and shows on its fact that better evidence exists

FACTUM PROBANS

• the evidentiary fact by which the factum probandum is to be established; material evidencing the proposition, existent, and offered for the consideration of the tribunal

FACTUM PROBANDUM

• the ultimate fact sought to be established; proposition to be established, hypothetical, and that which one party affirms and the other denies

COLLATERAL FACTS

• matters other than facts in issue and which are offered as a basis merely for inference as to the existence or non-existence of the facts in issue

REAL EVIDENCE

• evidence furnished by the things themselves, or view or inspection as distinguished from a description by them of a witness; that which is addressed directly to the senses of the court without the intervention of a witness

REBUTTAL EVIDENCE

• evidence which is given to explain, repel, counteract or disprove facts given in evidence by the adverse party

POSITIVE EVIDENCE

• when a witness affirms that a fact did or did not occur

NEGATIVE EVIDENCE

• when a witness states that he did not see or know the occurrence of a fact

BEST EVIDENCE RULE

• When the subject of inquiry is the contents of a document, no evidence shall be admissible other than the original document itself

PAROL EVIDENCE RULE

• When the terms of an, agreement have been reduced to writing, it is considered as containing all the terms agreed upon and there can be, between the parties and their successors in interest, no evidence of such terms other than the contents of the written agreement.