Judicial evidence: concept and types

According to the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, judicial evidence is a means of determining the absence or presence of facts of legal significance in the implementation of the process of proof. The concept and types of evidence are the main categories in the trial.

Definition of evidence

Article 55 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation establishes the concept of judicial evidence as a means by which evidence is passed. They indicate the absence or presence of circumstances that justify the requirements of the plaintiff and the objection of the defendant. In addition, evidence helps establish other circumstances that are important for the proper resolution of a civil case.

On the other hand, evidence is information obtained in the manner prescribed by legislative acts on various facts. Based on these facts, the court determines the absence or presence of circumstances that substantiate the objections of the parties, and other circumstances that are relevant for the correct consideration of the case.

Facilities

The establishment of evidence that is essential for resolving a civil case occurs through the collection of evidence, referred to as means.

The means of evidence include the following elements:

• explanations of the parties involved in the case, as well as a survey of a third party (or persons, if there are several);
• testimonies of invited and called witnesses;
• written documents that are evidence;
• evidence;
• audio and video recordings;
• expert opinions.

All the facts presented together form the foundation of the evidence base.

Legal nature and concept of evidence

The concept of judicial evidence is controversial among jurists. Some authors define the main concept of proof in the general sense. Secondary is the concept of judicial evidence.

According to Professor Gambarov Yu.S., proof is a correspondence between an oral statement and a reality, which is the basic concept in every scientific discipline and logical theory.

Another pre-revolutionary scientist-processor, K. I. Malyshev, the concept of judicial evidence is defined as the conviction of one’s own mind in the falsity or truthfulness of any position or fact. This interpretation also applies to logical concepts. Malyshev points out that the usual logical evidence is used by every person every day to prove certain theses of life.

The proof of the thesis is carried out with the help of arguments, which are other propositions already proven earlier. They are axioms, well-known thoughts and facts and do not require confirmation.

If we consider the concept of judicial evidence in a technical scientific sense, they are legal grounds for convincing the judicial authority in the existence or absence of legal disputed facts.

Specificity of evidence

Judicial evidence is in a sense a kind of logical evidence, since it obeys all the laws of logic. In this regard, they have a peculiar specificity, with the help of which they can be distinguished into a separate group and distinguished from other types of evidence.

For example, for process science, specific concepts are as follows.

1. Parties to the trial, that is, possible subjects of possible substantive legal relations, as well as other persons who participate in the case.
2. The activity of subjects, which manifests itself in the process of collecting and researching evidence.
3. Judicial involvement. It is of great importance in the process of evaluating evidence, since the court evaluates evidence based on its internal conviction, with a full, comprehensive, direct and objective study of the evidence presented (as indicated in article 67 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).

Object of proof

The object of proof in the process is momentary truth. This means that direct and indirect evidence provided to the court is true at a certain point in time between specific individuals and for a specific reason.

In this case, truth is subject to proof in an objective sense, that is, taking into account its quantitative and qualitative characteristics.

Rules for obtaining evidence

Unlike “household” evidence (in its usual meaning), in the process of obtaining judicial evidence it is necessary to observe a number of rules:

• information on necessary facts should be obtained only from those means that are established by law;
• evidence should include information that will be its content;
• evidence must be extracted from the funds established by law, that is, have the appropriate procedural form;
• the place for the examination of evidence is the courtroom during working hours, that is, in the trial itself.

The essence of evidence

With regard to the concept of the essence of evidence, as well as with regard to their legal nature, there are several different opinions and positions.

Some authors consider judicial evidence solely as known data and facts that can help establish the desired, previously unknown facts.

Other authors interpret the essence of proof as both factual known data and means of proof.

Representatives of a third party are supporters of the concept in which the essence of each evidence is determined by the totality of its procedural form and content, which are its important and integral elements.

Evidence of evidence

Analyzing the positions of jurists and the provisions of normative acts, two signs of evidence can be distinguished:

• evidence is factual evidence;
• evidence is closely related to the subject of the evidence process.

Obtaining and consideration of evidence is carried out in procedural form.

In the process of judicial proof, evidence as information or data on facts is found in different documents, in witness statements and other materials. For example, a gift agreement is a transaction, information about which is stored in documents, and for the parties to the agreement - in memory.

If the matter concerns the questioning of witnesses in court, there is a provision of evidence by a notary, which occurs when necessary or at the request of parties who are interested in this. Storage media are documents, things or people. Therefore, in the above cases, people and documents are sources of evidence.

Types of evidence

All evidence is divided into types according to the following criteria:

• the nature of the relationship of evidence with the circumstances to be established: direct and indirect;
• by sources of formation: material and personal;
• on formation processes: initial and derivative evidence.

For the court, no evidence, regardless of its type, has a pre-established force. The significance of dividing evidence by type in practice is as follows - it allows you to obtain information about which of the evidence needs to be investigated in court in order to fully and reliably establish the circumstances of the case under consideration.

Direct and indirect evidence

Direct evidence is directly related to the circumstances that need to be established. Indirect ones, in turn, do not have a direct connection with the case, they only provide an opportunity to make several assumptions that may be true. In this regard, if there is no direct evidence, indirect evidence is evidence that can only be used in their totality.

For example, a marriage certificate is direct evidence of the fact that a marriage is registered between specific people. The testimony of witnesses that these people lived together for a long time and wore the same rings is indirect evidence. This can testify to the fact of finding a legal marriage, as well as to simple cohabitation with wearing rings.

Evidence, which is indirect, can be used as independent means of establishing the truth or in conjunction with direct.

Material and personal evidence

Physical evidence is a combination of written, substantive evidence, as well as audio and video recordings. Personal evidence includes witness testimonies, explanations of the parties involved and a third party (or persons), and expert opinions.

Personal evidence is an imprint of the person who perceives the person’s events. Then the person perceives the information he reproduces in a lawsuit. In this regard, the reliability of the evidence may be subject to doubt, which subsequently affects the assessment of the evidence received. In order to preserve the testimonies of witnesses and the parties, the provision of evidence is used, that is, their fixation by a certain person for further use.

To determine the reliability of the evidence, expert opinions are used, which include written opinions and oral evidence in the trial.

Initial and derivatives

Initial and derivative evidence is information obtained from various sources.

Initial - this is first-hand evidence (eyewitness accounts, original contract, goods of inadequate quality, etc.). Derivative evidence is evidence obtained by him from an eyewitness, copies of the contract, photographs of goods of inadequate quality, etc. As is clear from the definitions, the initial evidence is more reliable than the derivatives.

Lawyers have identified another category of evidence - necessary. This is the evidence that is needed to establish the facts of evidence. A feature of this type of evidence is that if the party does not provide it of their own free will, the court will oblige them to provide it. For example, when considering a claim for reinstatement in the workplace, the parties must submit documents on employment, dismissal and documents confirming or refuting the legality of the dismissal. If the parties did not provide the required evidence, the trial may be delayed or the court will not be able to make the right decision in the case under consideration. As a result, the court may refuse the party to satisfy their claims.

Evidence

One of the axioms used as evidence in a lawsuit is evidence. These include previously established and confirmed circumstances used by the court as evidence of the existence of a specific legal fact of the subject of proof. Such a fact, for example, is an alibi. So, confirmation that the defendant, at the plaintiff’s statement of harm caused by him, was at that moment in another place, is the basis for declaring him not guilty.

Evidence has the following specific characteristics.

1. They need evidence in the capacity of legal facts.
2. After confirming the reliability of the evidence, they themselves become evidence.
3. They are interconnected with the subject. Information, being evidence-based facts, helps to establish the presence or absence of circumstances that justify the claims or objections of the parties, as well as other circumstances that are relevant for the correct consideration of the case.

Evidence, as well as any legal facts that must be proved, are established by evidence. These include: explanations of the parties, explanations of third parties, testimonies of witnesses (including data obtained by providing evidence), written evidence, material evidence, audio and video recordings and expert opinions.

All these funds are determined by Part 2 of Article 55 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

All evidence in court when considering a case must comply with all the statutory grounds, be provided with evidence by a notary, and also relate to some kind of evidence.