Law of Evidence: Relevance, Burdens and Admissibility
The framework
The Evidence Act supplies the statutory rules; the common law fills gaps. The examiner tests four clusters: relevance and admissibility, burden and standard of proof, exclusionary rules (hearsay, character, opinion, confessions), and the use of documentary and electronic material. Almost every problem turns on separating admissibility from weight.
Core rules
- The legal (persuasive) burden rests on the party asserting the issue; the evidential burden shifts as evidence accumulates. The prosecution proves guilt beyond reasonable doubt; civil cases use the balance of probabilities.
- Hearsay is an out-of-court assertion tendered for its truth and is generally inadmissible, subject to recognised exceptions: res gestae, dying declarations, admissions and confessions, public and business records, and statements in earlier proceedings.
- A confession is admissible only if voluntary. Oppression, inducement or a threat vitiates it, and the court tries the issue on the voir dire.
- Opinion evidence is confined to experts within their field and to non-expert opinions on everyday matters such as identity, age or handwriting.
- Documentary evidence requires proof of execution; copies are secondary evidence admitted on a recognised ground. Electronic records must be authenticated before they are received.
- Estoppel, presumptions (regularity, legitimacy, death after seven years' absence) and judicial notice shorten proof.
Worked example
While dying from stab wounds, V tells a neighbour 'Ali stabbed me', and the neighbour repeats it in court after V dies.
Reasoning: the statement is hearsay but admissible as a dying declaration, because it concerns the cause of death and the maker believed death was imminent. That establishes admissibility only. The court must still weigh it: a single oral declaration, uncorroborated, is fragile, and the court should look for supporting evidence such as the weapon or motive before convicting. If V had survived, the statement would lose the dying-declaration basis and be excluded as hearsay.
Traps
Confusing admissibility with weight; treating the absence of corroboration as fatal in every case; forgetting that a co-accused's confession is not evidence against the other accused; and omitting the voir dire when voluntariness is challenged.