Evidence Law
What this domain tests
Evidence Law tests the Evidence Act 2031 as applied in civil and criminal trials: relevance, burden and standard of proof, and the examination of witnesses.
Core rules
- Burden: whoever asserts a fact must prove it. Criminal guilt must be proved beyond reasonable doubt; civil claims on a balance of probabilities.
- Confessions are substantive evidence only when voluntary and recorded before a competent court; statements to police are generally inadmissible beyond limited purposes.
- Dying declaration is admissible where the maker believed death was imminent; it is scrutinised closely and corroboration strengthens but is not mandatory.
- Circumstantial evidence must form a complete chain excluding every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.
- Electronic records are admissible under the Electronic Transactions Act 2063, subject to proof of authenticity.
- Witness examination: chief, cross and re-examination; leading questions only in cross-examination; a hostile witness may be cross-examined by the party who called him.
Worked example
A stabbing victim names the assailant to a police officer and dies the next day. The statement is admissible as a dying declaration if the victim believed death was imminent and was of sound mind; the officer must depose to the exact words, and the court will weigh it against medical evidence and the conduct of the accused rather than reject it for want of oath.
Traps that cost marks
Treating a police confession as proof; assuming circumstantial evidence needs no complete chain; forgetting that an earlier statement of a living witness is not substantive evidence; ignoring the best evidence rule for documents.