Definitions Flashcards
- Evidence
BM CTJJ TARD
OWV
“Evidence” is the term for the whole body of material which a court, tribunal, Judge or jury, may take into account in reaching their decision.
Evidence may be in oral, written or visual form.
- Admissible evidence
Evidence legally able to be received by a court.
- Relevance
Evidence is relevant “if it has a tendency to prove or disprove anything that is of consequence to the determination of a proceeding” s7(3) EA 06
TPDACDP
- Facts in issue
Facts in issue are those which:
• the prosecution must prove to establish the elements of the offence, or
• the defendant must prove to succeed with a defence, in respect of which he or she carries the burden of proof.
PEO
DSD BP
Exclusionary rules
Rules that exclude evidence (usually because it is unreliable, unduly prejudicial or otherwise unfair to admit it).
- Weight of evidence
IVRFI
EA Rl/Cl TF
E S/C E
VW
DgPFAE
Its value in relation to the facts in issue. The value will depend on a wide range of factors, such as:
• the extent to which, if accepted, it is directly relevant to or conclusive of, those facts
• the extent to which it is supported or contradicted by other evidence produced
• the veracity of the witness.
The “weight” is the degree of probative force that can be accorded to the evidence.
Offer evidence
Evidence must be elicited before it is “offered”: Merely putting a proposition to a witness is not offering evidence; it becomes so when the witness accepts the proposition – s96(1) EA 06. Offering evidence includes eliciting evidence by cross-examination of a witness called by another party.
**Give evidence
3 alternative ways
“Giving evidence” is included in “offering evidence”: a witness “gives evidence”; a party “offers evidence”. A party who testifies both gives and offers evidence.
In a proceeding, evidence may be given:
• in the ordinary way either orally in a courtroom, or in an affidavit filed in court, or by reading a written statement in a courtroom, if both prosecution and defence consent, the statement is admissible, and it is the personal statement of the deponent or maker;
• in an alternative way – in the courtroom but unable to see the defendant or other person; outside the courtroom; or by video recording made before the hearing.
• in any other way provided for by EA 06 or any other relevant enactment.
Incriminate
PI LLorIL PPCO
To incriminate is to provide information that is reasonably likely to lead to, or increase the likelihood of, the prosecution of a person for a criminal offence.
PI LLorIL PPCO
Proceeding
PCC A2CCP
A proceeding conducted by a court, and any application to a court connected with a proceeding.
- Statement
SWAP, NVCP IPAAM
Is a spoken or written assertion by a person, or non-verbal conduct of a person intended by that person as an assertion of any matter.
- Witness
A person who gives evidence and is able to be cross-examined in a proceeding.
** Hearsay statement
SMPOW, & OEP PTC
A statement that was made by a person other than a witness, and is offered in evidence in the proceeding to prove the truth of its contents.
Out-of-court statements made by a “witness” are not excluded by the hearsay rule because the maker is available to be cross-examined. Such statements may still be excluded by a different rule.
A statement offered for some purpose other than proving the truth of its contents, for example merely to show that the statement was made or uttered, is not a hearsay statement.
*Veracity
The disposition of a person to refrain from lying, whether generally or in a proceeding.
*Propensity
A P SM
incl Ev A,O,Ex,C PAI
Propensity evidence is evidence about a person’s propensity to act in a particular way or have a particular state of mind, and includes evidence of acts, omissions, events or circumstances with which a person is alleged to have been involved.
