Law of Evidence: Burden and standard of proof?

Question

1. Fred is accused of assaulting a police officer. He tells you that he was acting in self-defence.

Advise Fred on the burden and standard of proof.


2. Zelda is charged with arson. You are of the view, on the advice of medical experts, that she is suffering from schizophrenia and is unable to give a coherent account of what happened.

Advise Zelda on the burden and standard of proof.

3. Peter is injured by a falling brick when walking past a building being constructed by XYZ Ltd. He claims damages in negligence.

Consider the burden and standard of proof.


4. Guy claims damages from his solicitor Patience alleging that she did not deal with his claim against a third party, Richard, with due care and attention. Patience pleads that she acted with all reasonable care.

Consider the burden and standard of proof.


5. Walter is charged with driving without due care and attention. He raises the defence of automatism.

Consider the burden and standard of proof.

6. Is it fair to say that the presumption of innocence in English law has been eroded?

Answer 1

Do your own home work!!!

Answer 2

Yep, looks like a homework assignement.

Remember that the burden of proof has two parts -- production (who must present evidence) and persuasion (who must do the convincing about what the evidence means). The party that bears the burden must do the work...

As to the standard of proof, remember that criminal laws vary by country. The USA follows "beyond a reasonable doubt" as the standard for all criminal matters. Not all countries do. And for civil matters, the standard is usually a preponderance (more likely than not). But not always.

Good luck with your assignment.

Answer 3

In todays world the burden of proof is always upon the defendant, espically in self defense against the cops. Look at the Peltier case, 2 plain closed fbi agents chase without red lights siren an Indina kid accused of shop lifting, he runs to a place he knows he'll be safe, where we set up a camp (AIM) as there were over 300 unsolved Indian murders on Pine Ridge during the 70s. The 2 agents shoot the fleeing kid in the back ( Joe Stuntz) this was witnessed by several of our brothers, who were armed, they fired back the two agents were killed, all but one defeadant was aquitted for self defense, that being Leonard who was in Canada so they flasaafied evidence agaisnt him, as the bullets didnt match his gun and convicted him.

Answer 4

I really hope this is not a course in your chosen field because you are setting yourself up for failure if you expect other people to do your work.

My suggestion is to crack open your textbook and read about what the burden and standard of proof for english law is and then answer these questions yourself.