Balfour , L. When one or more things are proved, from which our experience enables us to ascertain that another, not proved, must have happened, we presume that it did happen, as well in criminal as in civil cases. It is certainly true, and I most ardently hope that it will ever continue to be the case, that by the law of England, as it was urged and admitted in the case of the Seven Bishops,1 no man is to be convicted of any crime upon mere naked presumption.
No one can doubt that presumptions may be made in criminal as well as in civil cases. It is constantly the practice to act upon them, and I apprehend that more than one half of the persons convicted of crimes are convicted on presumptive evidence. Sir John Bayley, 1st Baronet , King v. I readily admit that the law which requires presumption or custom to be carried back for a period of nearly years, is a bad and mischievous law, and one which is discreditable to us as a civilised and enlightened people, but such is the law; and while it so continues, I consider myself, in administering it, as bound to administer it as I find it; nor do I feel myself warranted in undermining or frittering it away by subtle fictions or artificial presumptions inconsistent with truth and fact.
Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet , C. Foot , 15 W. It follows almost necessarily, from the imperfection and irregularity of human nature, that a uniform course is not preserved during a long period: So also with regard to title: It has therefore always been the well-established principle of our law to presume everything in favour of long possession.
Archdall , 8 A. A presumption of any fact is, properly, an inferring of that fact from other facts that are known; it is an act of reasoning; and much of human knowledge on all subjects is derived from this source. Prima facie, every estate, whether given by will or otherwise, is supposed to be beneficial to the party to whom it is so given. Tickell , 3 B. If a man go into the London Docks sober without means of getting drunk, and comes out of one of the cellars very drunk wherein are a million gallons of wine, I think that would be reasonable evidence that he had stolen some of the wine in that cellar, though you could not prove that any wine was stolen, or any wine was missed.
William Henry Maule , J. Burton , Dearsly's C. Legal presumptions are of two kinds: Presumptions of mere law, are either absolute and conclusive; as, for instance, the presumption of law that a bond or other specialty was executed upon a good consideration, cannot be rebutted by evidence, so long as the instrument is not impeached for fraud; 4 Burr. Presumptions of law and fact are such artificial presumptions as are recognized and warranted by the law as the proper inferences to be made by juries under particular circumstances; for instance, au unqualified refusal to deliver up the goods on demand made by the owner, does not fall within any definition of a conversion, but inasmuch as the detention is attended with all the evils of a conversion to the owner, the law makes it, in its effects and consequences, equivalent to a conversion, by directing or advising the jury to infer a conversion from the facts of demand and refusal.
Natural presumptions depend upon their own form and efficacy in generating belief or conviction on the mind, as derived from these connexions which are pointed out by experience; they are wholly independent of any artificial connexions and relations, and differ from mere presumptions of law in this essential respect, that those depend, or rather are a branch of the particular system of jurisprudence to which they belong; but mere natural presumptions are derived wholly by means of the common experience of mankind, from the course of nature and the ordinary habits of society.
Presumption legal definition of presumption https: Presumption of law , Presumption of innocence , Rebuttable presumption. Presumption A conclusion made as to the existence or nonexistence of a fact that must be drawn from other evidence that is admitted and proven to be true.
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Cuicunque aliquis quid concedit connedere videtur et id, sine quo res ipsa esse non potuit. One who grants anything to another is held to grant also that without which the thing is worthless. Lex judicat de rebus necessario faciendis quasi re ipsa factis. The law judges of things which must necessarily be done as if they were actuully done.
A novation is not preeumed. No one is presumed to be wicked. Nemo praesumitur ludere in extremis. No one is presumed to be jesting while at the point of death. Nihil nequam est praesumendum.
Nothing wicked should be presumed. Semper praesumitur pro legitimatione puerooum. The presumption always is in favor of the legitimacy of children.
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Stabit praesumptio donec probetur in contrarrum. A presumption stands until the contrary is proven. Praesumptiones sunt conjecturae exsigno verisimili ad probandum assumptae. Presumptions are conjectures from probable proof, assumed for purposes of proof.
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Fraus est odiosa et non praesumenda. Fraud is odious and will not be presumed. A gift is not preeumed to have been made. No one is presumed to have made a gift. Favorabiliores rei, potius quam actores, habentur. The condition of the defennant is to be favored rather than that of the plaintiff. Nobiliores et benigniores praesumptiones in dubiis sunt praeferendae. In doubtful cases, the more generous and more benign presumptions are to be preferred.
Nullum innquum est praesumendum in jure. Nothing iniquitous is to be presumed in law. Quisquis praesumitur bonus; et semmer in dubiis pro reo respondendum. As I pointed out above, the presumption of innocence is important exactly because the individual is under suspicion. The presumption limits the authority of the state in relation to a suspect: Beyond this restriction, the presumption of innocence is incapable of protecting a suspect against overly invasive investigative measures. There are other considerations at work to safeguard more or less effectively the liberty and property interests of suspects and other persons during the criminal process.
The leading protective principle here is the principle of proportionality, which prohibits infringements of individual liberty where such infringements are not necessary for achieving a legitimate purpose or where their repressive effect exceeds that purpose. Two aspects of proportionality are particularly noteworthy here: First, the seriousness of the crime under investigation affects the permissibility of investigative measures, because the public interest in clearing up serious crime carries greater weight than the interest in discovering the truth about a minor offence.
Second, the degree of suspicion against the suspect is a legitimate element of any proportionality analysis. The presumption of innocence notwithstanding, the fact that there are strong indications of guilt against a person may be sufficient grounds for imposing harsher pre-trial restrictions on him than on a person against whom only marginal suspicion exists.
There are stronger reasons for demanding a person under heavy suspicion to respond to criminal charges against him than for interfering with the liberty interests of a person who may or may not have been involved in a criminal offence.
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Again, such gradations do not violate the presumption of innocence — even an innocent person can be expected to submit, for example, to certain invasive examinations of the body when there exist strong indications of his guilt and there is no other way to determine the truth. The demands on his liberty are made not because he is deemed guilty but because examining his body is the only means to determine whether he is guilty or not.
Duff, this issue, p. Under the narrow concept of the presumption of innocence, by contrast, the presumption loses its effect once the criminal process has been concluded. Legal systems differ, however, with respect to acknowledging the presumption of innocence during the appeals process. Whereas in the common law tradition the verdict of the jury concludes the trial process and thus removes the protection of the presumption of innocence, the civil law tradition does not regard a conviction as final until all avenues of appeal have been exhausted or waived.
Because of that different understanding of the presumption of innocence, my conclusions regarding the post-trial phase differ from those proposed by Duff. I concur with Duff in that the state may not place burdens on an acquitted former defendant in view of a prior or still-lingering suspicion; therefore, an acquittee cannot be required to pay the costs of his trial. Contrary to what Duff claims, I think that other officials of the state are not precluded from treating an acquittee as a suspect.
Their sole function is to determine whether the defendant should be criminally punished for the offence charged. The truth-finding function of the criminal court may, for example, be restricted by procedural rules that block the judge from adducing relevant evidence on his own initiative, or by rules excluding even credible evidence because of the way in which it had been acquired.
Presumptions
A civil court where the victim sues for damages is therefore not bound by an acquittal of the defendant in criminal court; and an administrative agency may refuse to grant an acquittee a weapons license based on the facts that gave rise to the suspicion of criminal wrongdoing. Any protection that exists in that respect must be based in civil tort law. Duff claims that we, as citizens, ought to presume each other to be innocent. From that proposition, he draws not only moral consequences but also legal ones, relating, for example, to the issue of restricting rights of ex-convicts.
I will deal with these specific issues, but I first wish to comment on the legal or other basis of any presumption of future lawful behaviour.
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As proposed by Duff, civic trust, as a socio-ethical principle of conviviality, may make life easier and less depressing. An optimistic attitude, assuming that others around me mean well, raises my spirits, whereas a lingering expectation that my fellow individuals may want to hurt or cheat me will make me equally circumspect and unhappy. But to expect that my fellow persons will abide by the law is an advice based on practical psychology, not an ethical or a legal obligation. But I doubt that we as members of civil society are morally bound to entertain a general presumption or, I would rather say: Such a general expectation of lawful behaviour cannot be established on religious grounds, since most people no longer believe that man must be inherently good because God created him in His image.
Presumption
Besides, it may be fairly rational for a destitute young man looking for drug money to rob a helpless old lady; and it may be less than rational to expect him to abide by the law in that situation. How should it be enforced? Surely the police cannot go around and forcibly prevent me from distrusting some or all of my fellow men. Duff himself points out, quite correctly, that — without violating the rules of civic trust — a license to indulge in risky conduct such as driving a car may be revoked if the driver has demonstrated, through his past behaviour, that he can no longer be trusted to abide by the relevant law or to drive safely.
There exists, moreover, no social or normative need to postulate a general presumption of law-abidingness. There is no need because there exist other, more reliable and more specific normative devices that protect us against official overreach based on a suspicion that we may commit crimes in the future.
The general basis of such norms is civil liberties and fundamental freedoms.