Pointers in Criminal Evidence (Law 3)

Admission - any statement of fact made by a party against his interest

or unfavorable to the conclusion for which he contends or is inconsistent

with the facts alleged by him.

Best Evidence Rule - is that rule which requires the highest grade of

evidence obtainable to prove a disputed fact.

Burden Of Evidence - logical necessity on a

party during a particular time of the trail to create a

prima facie case in his favor or to destroy that

created against him by presenting evidence.

Burden Of Proof/Risk of Non-Persuasion - 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.

Character - the aggregate of the moral qualities which belong to and

distinguish an individual person.

Circumstantial Evidence - is the proof of a fact or facts from which

taken either singly or collectively, the existence or a particular

fact in dispute may be inferred as a necessary or probable consequence.

Common Reputation - is the definite opinion of the community in which

the fact to be proved is known or exists. It means the general or

substantially undivided reputation, as distinguished from a partial or

qualified one, although it need not be unanimous.

Competency Of A Witness - is the legal fitness or ability of a witness

to be heard on the trial of a cause.

Competent Evidence - one that is not excluded by this Rules, a statute

or the Constitution.

Compromise - is an agreement made between two or more parties as a

settlement matters in dispute.

Conclusive Evidence - the class of evidence which the law does not allow

to be contradicted.

Confession - categorical acknowledgement of guilt made by an accused

in a criminal case, without any exculpatory statement or explanation.

If the accused admits having committed the act in question but alleges

a justification therefore, the same is merely an admission.

Judicial Confession - one made before a court in which the case

is pending and in the course of legal proceedings therein and,

by itself, can sustain a conviction even in capital offenses.

Extra Judicial Confession - one made in any other place or

occasion and cannot sustain a conviction unless corroborated by

evidence of the corpus delicti. This section refers to extrajudicial

confessions.
Corroborative Evidence - is additional evidence of a difference character

to the same point.

Cumulative Evidence - evidence of the same kind and to the same state

of facts.

Demonstrative Evidence - is a tangible evidence that merely illustrates

a matter of importance in the litigation such as maps, diagrams,

models, summaries and other materials created especially for litigation.

Direct Evidence - that which proves the fact in dispute without the

aid of any inference or presumption.

Doctine Of Processual Presumption - absent any of the evidence or

admission,

the foreign law is presumed to be the same as that in the Philippines.

Document - any substance having any matter expressed or described upon

it by marks capable of being read.

- is a deed, instrument or other duly authorized appear by

which something is proved, evidenced or set forth.

Documentary Evidence - evidence supplied by written instruments or

derived

from conventional symbols, such as letters, by which ideas are represented

on material substances.
Dying Declaration - The ante mortem statements made by a person after

the mortal wound has been inflicted under the belief that the death is

certain, stating the fact concerning the cause of and the circumstances

surrounding the attack.

Equipose Rule - Where the evidence gives rise to two probabilities,

one consistent with defendants innocence, and another indicative of

his guilt, that which is favorable to the accused should be considered.

Estoppel By Deed the tenant is not permitted to deny title of his

landlord at the time of the commencement of the land-lord tenant

relationship. If the title asserted is one that is alleged to have been

acquired subsequent to the commencement of that relation, the presumption

will not apply.

Estoppel In Pais - whenever a party has, by his own declaration, act,

or omission, intentionally and deliberately lead another to believe a

particular thing to be true and act upon such belief, he cannot, in

any litigation arising out of such declaration, act or omission, be

permitted to falsify it.

Expert Witness - one who belongs to the profession or calling to which

the subject matter of the inquiry relates to and who possesses special

knowledge on questions on which he proposes to express an opinion.

Express Admissions - are those made in definite, certain and unequivocal

language.
Extra Judicial Admissions - are those made out of court, or in a judicial

proceeding other than the one under consideration.

Fact - thing done or existing.

Facts In Issue - are those facts which the plaintiff must prove in order

to establish his claim and those facts which the defendant must prove

in order to establish a defense set up by him, but only when the fact

alleged by the one party is not admitted by the other party.

Facts Relevant To The Issue - are those facts which render the probable

existence or non-existence of a fact in issue, or some other relevant

fact.

Factum Probandum - the ultimate fact or the fact sought to be established.

- Refers to proposition

Factum Probans - is the evidentiary fact or the fact by which the factum

probandum is to be established. Materials which establish the proposition.

Hearsay Rule - Any evidence, whether oral or documentary is hearsay if

its probative value is not based on the personal knowledge of the

witness but on the knowledge of some other person not on the witness

stand.

Impeaching Evidence - a proper foundation must be laid for the impeaching

questions, by calling attention of such party to his former statement

so as to give him an opportunity to explain before such admissions are

offered in evidence.

Implied Admissions - are those which may be inferred from the acts,

declarations or omission of a party. Therefore, an admission may be

implied from conduct, statement of silence of a party.

Independent Evidence - admissions are original evidence and no

foundation

is necessary for their introduction in evidence

Intermediate Ambiguity - situation where an ambiguity partakes of the

nature of both patent and latent. In this, the words are seemingly

clear and with a settled meaning, is actually equivocal and admits of

two interpretations. Here, parol evidence is admissible to clarify

the ambiguity provided that the matter is put in issue by the pleader.

Example: Dollars, tons and ounces.

Issue - is the point or points in question, at the conclusion of the

pleadings which one side affirms, and the other side denies.

Judicial Admissions - are those so made in the pleadings filed or in

the progress of a trial.

- It is one made in connection with a judicial

proceeding in which it is offered, while an extrajudicial admission

is any other admission.

Judicial Notice - no more than that the court will bring to its aid

and consider, without proof of the facts, its knowledge of those

matters of public concern which are known by all well-informed

persons.

- cognizance of certain facts which judges may take

and act on without proof because they are already known to them.

Material Evidence - evidence directed to prove a fact in issue as

determined by the rules of substantive law and pleadings. The test is

whether the fact it intends to prove is an issue or not. AS to whether

a fact is in issue or not is in turn determined by the substantive law,

the pleadings, the pre-trial order and by the admissions or confessions

on file. Consequently, evidence may be relevant but may be immaterial

in the case.

Negative Evidence - when the witness did not see or know of the
occurrence

of a fact. There is a total disclaimer of persona knowledge, hence without

any representation or disavowal that the fact in question could or could

not have existed or happened. It is admissible only if it tends to

contradict positive evidence of the other side or would tend to exclude

the existence of fact sworn to by the other side.

Object Evidence - is a tangible object that played some actual role on

the matter that gave rise to the litigation. For instance, a knife.

Objective or Real Evidence - directly addressed to the senses of the

court and consist of tangible things exhibited or demonstrated in open

court, in an ocular inspection, or at place designated by the court

for its view or observation of an exhibition, experiment or demonstration.

This is referred to as autoptic preference.

Omnia praesumuntur rite et solemniter esse acta donec probetur in

contrarium all things are presumed to have been done regularly and

with due formality until the contrary is proved.

Opinion - an inference or conclusion drawn from facts observed.

Ordinary Opinion Evidence - that which is given by a witness who is

of ordinary capacity and who has by opportunity acquired a particular

knowledge which is outside the limits of common observation and which

may be of value in elucidating a matter under consideration.

Parol Evidence - any evidence aliunde, whether oral or written, which

is intended or tends to vary or contradict a complete and enforceable

agreement embodied in a document.

Patent or Extrinsic Ambiguity - is such ambiguity which is apparent on

the face of the writing itself and requires something to be added in

order to ascertain the meaning of the words used. In this case, parol

evidence is not admissible, otherwise the court would be creating a

contract between the parties.

Pedigree - includes relationship, family genealogy, birth, marriage,

death, the dates when, and the placer where these facts occurred and
the names of their relatives. It embraces also facts of family history

intimately connected with pedigree.

Positive Evidence - when the witness affirms that a fact did or did not

occur. Entitled to a greater weight since the witness represents of his

personal knowledge the presence or absence of a fact.

Presumption - An inference as to the existence or non-existence of a

fact which courts are permitted to draw from the proof of other facts.

Presumption Juris Or Of Law is a deduction which the law

expressly directs to be made from particular facts.

Presumption Hominis Or Of Fact is a deduction which reason

draws from facts proved without an express direction from the

law to that effect.

Prima Facie Evidence - that which is standing alone, unexplained or

uncontradicted, is sufficient to maintain the proposition affirmed.

Primary Evidence - that which the law regards as affording the greatest

certainty of the fact in question. Also referred to as the best evidence.

Privies - those who have mutual or successive relationship to the

same right of property or subject matter, such as personal

representatives, heirs, devisees, legatees, assigns, voluntary grantee

or judgment creditors or purchasers from them without notices to the fact.

Privity - mutual succession of relationship to the same rights of property.

Proof - the result or effect of evidence. When the requisite quantum

of evidence of a particular fact has been duly admitted and given weight,

the result is called the proof of such fact.

Relevant Evidence - evidence having any value in reason as tending to

prove any matter provable in an action. The test is the logical relation

of the evidentiary fact to the fact in issue, whether the former tends

to establish the probability or improbability of the latter.

Res Gestae - literally means things done; it includes circumstances,

facts, and declarations incidental to the main facts or transaction

necessary to illustrate its character and also includes acts, words,

or declarations which are closely connected therewith as to constitute

part of the transaction.

Rule Of Exclusion - that which is secondary evidence cannot inceptively

be introduced as the original writing itself must be produced in court,

except in the four instances mentioned in Section 3.

Secondary Evidence - that which is inferior to the primary evidence and

is permitted by law only when the best evidence is not available.

Known as the substitutionary evidence.

- shows that better or primary evidence exists as to

the proof of fact in question. It is deemed less reliable.

Self Serving Declaration - is one which has been made extrajudicially

by the party to favor his interests. It is not admissible in evidence.

Testimonial Evidence - is that which is submitted to the court through

the testimony or deposition of a witness.

Unsound Mind - any mental aberration, whether organic or functional, or

induced by drugs or hypnosis.

Witness - reference to a person who testifies in a case or gives evidence

before a judicial tribunal.