Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction to Basic Concepts and Methods
- 2 Burdens of Proof in Legal Reasoning
- 3 Presumption in Legal Reasoning
- 4 Shifting the Burden of Proof in Witness Testimony
- 5 Burden of Proof in Dialogue Systems
- 6 Solving the Problems of Burden of Proof
- 7 Burdens of Proof in Different Types of Dialogue
- 8 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Burdens of Proof in Legal Reasoning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction to Basic Concepts and Methods
- 2 Burdens of Proof in Legal Reasoning
- 3 Presumption in Legal Reasoning
- 4 Shifting the Burden of Proof in Witness Testimony
- 5 Burden of Proof in Dialogue Systems
- 6 Solving the Problems of Burden of Proof
- 7 Burdens of Proof in Different Types of Dialogue
- 8 Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In law, there is a fundamental distinction between two main types of burden of proof (Prakken and Sartor, 2009). One is the setting of the global burden of proof before the trial begins, which is called the burden of persuasion. It does not change during the argumentation stage, and it is the device used to determine which side has won at the closing stage. The other is the local setting of burden of proof at the argumentation stage, often called the burden of production (or the evidential burden, or the burden of going forward with evidence) in law. This burden can shift back and forth as the argumentation proceeds. For example, if one side puts forward a strong argument, the other side must meet the local burden to respond to that argument by criticizing or presenting a counterargument, or otherwise the strong argument will hold, and it will fulfill the burden of persuasion of its proponent unless the respondent puts forward an equally strong objection or counterargument. Otherwise the respondent will lose the trial at that point, and the judge can declare that the trial is over.
According to Williams (2003, 166), considerable confusion has arisen from a failure to distinguish between two distinct kinds of burdens of proof, especially by appeal courts who discuss questions of burden of proof without making it clear whether they are talking about burden of persuasion or evidential burden. Recent ground-breaking work in AI shows great promise for helping law to work toward a more systematic conceptual grasp of the notion of burden of proof by seeing how to model it in a precise way.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Burden of Proof, Presumption and Argumentation , pp. 49 - 84Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014