Evidence

The power of adducing proof is not to be narrowed.

Facultas probationum non est angustanda.

Source: 4 Inst. 279; Jackson, No. 262

Courts must not restrict a party's opportunity to present evidence; the right to prove one's case is fundamental to due process of law.

Negatives cannot be proved.

Negativa probari non possunt.

Source: 4 Inst. 279; Code. 4, 19, 23

It is in the nature of things that a party cannot prove what did not happen; therefore the law places the burden of proof on the affirmative.

The thing speaks for itself.

Res ipsa loquitur.

Source: Broom, Max.; per Pollock, C.B. in Byrne v. Boadle (1863) 2 H. & C. 722

Where an event is of such a character that it could not ordinarily occur without negligence or wrongful act, the occurrence itself is evidence sufficient to raise a presumption of fault without further proof.

False in one thing, false in all things.

Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.

Source: 4 Inst. 279; Broom, Max.; Jackson, Lat. for Lawyers, No. 266; Weisman, 26bb; Weisman, 37f

Where a witness is shown to have testified falsely on a material point — one on which he could not be presumed to be mistaken — the tribunal may reject the whole of his testimony.

No one alleging his own wrongdoing is to be heard as a witness.

Nemo turpitudinem suam allegans audiendus est.

Source: 4 Inst. 279; Best, Ev. §385; Weisman, 39ii

A person who would profit from his own wrong is not a credible witness; the law does not receive testimony grounded in the witness's own turpitude.

One eye-witness is worth more than ten ear-witnesses.

Pluris est oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem.

Source: 4 Inst. 279; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3154; Weisman, 39w

Direct observation outweighs hearsay; testimony from one who saw the event firsthand carries greater weight than any number of those who merely heard of it.

Witnesses are weighed, not counted.

Testes ponderantur, non numerantur.

Source: 1 Starkie, Ev. 554; Best, Ev. §389; Weisman, 39x

The credibility and quality of witnesses determines the force of their testimony, not the mere number of them.