Law of Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Law of Evidence - Essay Example This is often done to preserve some fundamental elements of the constitutional conventions and legal traditions that have been preserved for generations in English law. This paper will examine the circumstances under which the burden of proof is reversed from the accuser to the accused. It will also identify how the court rationalise their decisions in these circumstances and situations. A tradition upheld in English legal tradition is that an individual is innocent until proven guilty in criminal proceedings. This is the concept of the presumption of innocence which means that the burden of proof will be on the prosecution rather than the accused. This was made in the landmark ruling of Woolmington V DPP2 where the precedence was set for prosecutors to prove that a person had broken the law before any proceeding could commence in criminal law. The case of Woolmington V DPP indicated that the prosecution has two burdens of proof, evidential burden of proof and legal burden of proof3. The evidential burden of proof is the sensible proposition to assert there is a matter fit for the accused person to be prosecuted. However, that does not prevent the prosecution from presenting evidence during the actual trial. The evidential burden of proof is to ensure that a person arrested on a given charge is actually in breach of a valid law of the land. Evidential burden is meant to ensure that there is a compelling reason for the prosecution to go ahead. It is about the ability to link the accused to what s/he is actually being accused for. During the hearings, the prosecution must present evidence to support the claims on the basis of the points of law, presented by the judge. In other words, when examining the English legal system, it is apparent that cases are presented to judges who present the facts to the jury who in turn scrutinize the facts and come up with a verdict. Thus, evidential proof and