Elements of Evidence Flashcards
What are the 6 objectives of the Evidence Act 2006?
- Enhancing access to law of evidence
- Avoiding unjustifiable expense and delay
- Protecting rights of confidentiality and other importance public interests
- Promoting fairness to witnesses and parties
- Providing for facts to be established by application of logical rules
- Providing rules of evidence that recognise the importance or the rights affirmed by the Bill or Rights Act 1990.
A Police Constable who prepares a court case must consider what makes good evidence, including the facts to prove the charge. Explain the term ‘facts to prove the charge’
- The facts must prove the elements of the charge and the evidence should be made up of facts that prove the charge.
- The actual charge and the elements of it should be borne in mind when deciding what evidence is relevant and what evidence will help prove the guilt of the person charged.
What are presumptions of law and give an example.
Presumptions of law are inferences that have been expressly drawn by law from particular facts, may be either conclusive or rebuttable.
e.g. A child under 10 is unable to be convicted
What are presumption of fact and give an example
Presumptions of fact are those that the mind naturally and logically draws from the given facts. They are simply logical inferences, and so are always rebuttable.
What is the general rule in relation to establishing facts (M/C)
All facts in issue and facts relevant to the issue must be proved by evidence.
A general rule of evidence is that all facts in issue and facts relevant to the issue must be proved by evidence that two main exceptions are:
The two main exceptions of the general rule are when no evidence needs to be given of facts because:
- Judicial notice is given
- Facts are formally admitted
Explain the concept of Judicial Notice - Section 128 and 129
When a court takes judicial notice of a fact, it declares that it will find that the fact exists, or will direct the jury to do so even though evidence has not been established that the fact exists. E.g. if the date of Christmas were a fact in issue.
It is not necessary in court to prove uncontroverted facts. These are admitted as: (M/C)
Judicial notice
It is not necessary in court to prove fact such as what day is Christmas. These facts are admitted as: (M/C)
Judicial notice
What the four principles used to determine admissibility
- Reliability
- Relevance
- Unfairness
- Public interest
The fundamental condition for admissibility of evidence is that it must be relevant. According to Section 7 of the Evidence Act 2008, when might relevant evidence not be admissible in proceedings?
- Inadmissible under this act or any other act
- Excluded under this act or any other act
What does the term ‘relevant evidence mean’ NOT include.
Relevant evidence excludes any extraneous matters that do not relate to the precise issue or issues to be determined by the court. Evidence can be admitted on any basis for which is relevant.
Even though evidence is relevant, it may exclude if it would result in unfairness. Unfairness can covers a variety of situations and is a matter of discretion for the trial judge. It usually arises in two ways.
- Evidence may be excluded if it would result in some unfair prejudice in the proceeding
- Evidence may be excluded where it has been obtained in circumstances that would make its admission against the defendant unfair
Section 8 of the Evidence Act provides that the judge must exclude evidence if its probative value is outweighed by risk that the evidence will be one of two things:
Section 8 test involves balancing the probative value against the risk that if it will
- Have an unfairly prejudicial effect on the proceeding
- Needlessly prolong the proceeding
Explain Section 15 of the Evidence Act 2006
- Section 15 of the evidence act governs evidence given by a witness to prove the facts necessary for deciding whether some other evidence should be admitted in a proceeding.
- These kinds of hearings are referred to as “hearings in chambers”. The facts determined at a hearing in chambers are sometimes referred to as preliminary facts.
