Principles of Law of Evidence and the Trial Process cheat sheet

Key terms

Relevance

The evidence must have some logical connection to a fact in issue, tending, in itself or together with other facts, to make that fact more or less probable; evidence about a matter the case does not actually turn on, however interesting, is not relevant and a court has no reason to receive it.

Reliability

The evidence must be trustworthy, accurately reflecting what it purports to show: a document that has been altered, a witness whose account keeps changing, or a chain of custody with an unexplained gap all raise reliability concerns that go to the weight a court gives the evidence even where it is technically admitted.

Direct evidence

Evidence that, if believed, proves a fact without any need for inference, an eyewitness who saw the fraudulent transaction take place, or a signed confession.

Circumstantial evidence

Evidence that requires an inference to connect it to the fact in issue, a suspect's fingerprint on a document later found altered, an unusual pattern of transactions timed to a suspect's known movements; it is still capable of proving a case, and, in fraud matters, is often the only evidence available at all, since a person committing fraud rarely leaves a witness to watch them do it or confesses on request.

Testimonial evidence

Oral or written statements given by a witness under oath, the account a witness gives of what they perceived or, for an expert, what they concluded from their examination.

Real evidence

Physical objects or documents themselves, a forged cheque, a hard drive, the falsified ledger, evidence the court can examine directly rather than through a witness's description of it.

Demonstrative evidence

Material created to illustrate or explain other evidence, a chart summarising a transaction trail across dozens of bank statements, a timeline of events; it is not evidence of the underlying facts itself but an aid to understanding evidence that is, and it must accurately represent the underlying evidence or it risks being misleading and excluded.

Inculpatory evidence

Evidence tending to establish guilt or liability, the evidence an investigation is most often looking for and most naturally documents.

Exculpatory evidence

Evidence tending to establish innocence or reduce liability; a forensic examiner must document and disclose this even where it undermines the case being built, since concealing it is itself professional and, in a criminal matter, potentially legal misconduct (the prosecution's disclosure duty, covered in the chapter on the criminal trial, sentence and appeal, exists precisely to guarantee the defence sees it).

Character evidence

Evidence of a person's general disposition or reputation, generally restricted since it risks prejudice (a court convicting because the accused seems the type to do it) outweighing its genuine probative value on the specific facts in issue.