quantum of proof

 

 

Substantial evidence

In some appeals from decisions of administrative agencies, the courts apply a "substantial evidence" standard of review over the agency's factual findings. In the United States, for example, if a Social Security Disability Insurance claimant is found "not disabled" (and, therefore, ineligible for benefits) by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the claimant appeals, both the Appeals Council (the body within the Social Security Administration that hears appeals from decisions of ALJs) and the Federal courts (which, in this type of case, will normally hear an appeal only after the claimant has exhausted all administrative remedies) will look to see whether the administrative law judge's decision was supported by "substantial evidence" or not. Substantial evidence is "more than a mere scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion."^[4]

Preponderance of the evidence

Preponderance of the evidence, also known as balance of probabilities is the standard required in most civil cases.

This is also the standard of proof used in Grand Jury indictment proceedings (which, unlike civil proceedings, are procedurally unrebuttable), and in family court determinations solely involving money, such as child support under the Child Support Standards Act.

The standard is met if the proposition is more likely to be true than not true. Effectively, the standard is satisfied if there is greater than 50 percent chance that the proposition is true. Lord Denning, in Miller v. Minister of Pensions,^[5] described it simply as "more probable than not." Until 1970, this was also the standard used in juvenile court in the United States.

This is also the standard of proof used when determining eligibility of unemployment benefits for a former employee accused of losing their job through alleged misconduct. In most US states, the employer must prove this case based on preponderance of the evidence.

Clear and convincing evidence

Clear and convincing evidence is a higher level of burden of persuasion than a "Preponderance of the Evidence". It is employed intra-adjudicatively in Administrative Court determinations, as well as in civil and certain criminal procedure in the United States. For example, a prisoner seeking habeas corpus relief from capital punishment must prove his factual innocence by clear and convincing evidence.^[6]

This standard is used in many types of equity cases, including paternity, PINS, juvenile delinquency, child custody, the probate of both wills and living wills, petitions to remove a person from life support ("right to die" cases),^[7] and many similar cases.

Clear and convincing proof means that the evidence presented by a party during the trial must be highly and substantially more probable to be true than not and the trier of fact must have a firm belief or conviction in its factuality. In this standard, a greater degree of believability must be met than the common standard of proof in civil actions, "Preponderance of the Evidence", which requires that the facts as a threshold be more likely than not to prove the issue for which they are asserted.

This standard is also known as "Clear and Convincing Evidence"; "Clear, Convincing, and Satisfactory Evidence"; "Clear, Cognizant, and Convincing Evidence"; and "Clear, Unequivocal, Satisfactory, and Convincing Evidence", and is applied in cases or situations involving an equitable remedy or where a presumptive civil liberty interest exists.

Beyond reasonable doubt

This is the highest standard used as the burden of proof in Anglo-American jurisprudence and typically only applies in criminal proceedings.

It has been described as, in negative terms, as a proof having been met if there is no plausible reason to believe otherwise.

If there is a real doubt, based upon reason and common sense after careful and impartial consideration of all the evidence, or lack of evidence, in a case, then the level of proof has not been met.

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, is proof of such a convincing character that you would be willing to rely and act upon it without hesitation in the most important of your own affairs. However, it does not mean an absolute certainty. The standard that must be met by the prosecution's evidence in a criminal prosecution is that no other logical explanation can be derived from the facts except that the defendant committed the crime, thereby overcoming the presumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

If the trier of fact has no doubt as to the defendant's guilt, or if their only doubts are unreasonable doubts, then the prosecutor has proven the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and the defendant should be pronounced guilty.

The term connotes that evidence establishes a particular point to a moral certainty and that it is beyond dispute that any reasonable alternative is possible. It does not mean that no doubt exists as to the accused's guilt, but only that no Reasonable Doubt is possible from the evidence presented.

The main reason that the high proof standard of reasonable doubt is used in criminal trials is that such proceedings can result in the deprivation of a defendant's liberty or even in his or her death. These outcomes are far more severe than in civil trials, in which monetary damages are the common remedy.

Non-legal standards

Beyond the shadow of a doubt

Beyond the shadow of a doubt is the strictest standard of proof. It requires that there be no doubt as to the issue. Widely considered an impossible standard, a situation stemming from the nature of knowledge itself, it is valuable to mention only as a comment on the fact that evidence in a court never need (nor can) reach this level. This phrase, has, nonetheless, come to be associated with the law in popular culture.