DEFINITION OF TERMS

Admission - any statement of fact made by a

party against his interest or unfavorable to the
conclusion for which he contends or is
inconsistent with the facts alleged by him.
Best Evidence Rule - is that rule which requires
the highest grade of evidence obtainable to prove
a disputed fact.
Burden Of Evidence - logical necessity on a
party during a particular time of the trail to create
a prima facie case in his favor or to destroy that
created against him by presenting evidence.
Burden Of Proof/Risk of Non-Persuasion the
duty of a party to present evidence on the facts in
issue necessary to establish his claim or defense
by the amount of evidence required by law.
Character - the aggregate of the moral qualities
which belong to and distinguish an individual
person.
Circumstantial Evidence - is the proof of a fact
or facts from which taken either singly or
collectively, the existence or a particular fact in
dispute may be inferred as a necessary or
probable consequence.
Common Reputation - is the definite opinion of
the community in which the fact to be proved is
known or exists. It means the general or
substantially
undivided
reputation,
as
distinguished from a partial or qualified one,
although it need not be unanimous.
Competency Of A Witness - is the legal fitness
or ability of a witness to be heard on the trial of a
cause.
Competent Evidence - one that is not excluded
by this Rules, a statute or the Constitution.
Compromise - is an agreement made between
two or more parties as a settlement matters in
dispute.
Conclusive Evidence - the class of evidence
which the law does not allow to be contradicted.

Confession - categorical acknowledgement of

guilt made by an accused in a criminal case,
without
any
exculpatory
statement
or
explanation. If the accused admits having
committed the act in question but alleges a
justification therefore, the same is merely an
admission.
Judicial Confession - one made before a
court in which the case is pending
and in the course of legal proceedings therein
and, by itself, can sustain a conviction
even in capital offenses.
Extra Judicial Confession - one made in
any other place or occasion and
cannot
sustain
a
conviction
unless
corroborated by evidence of the corpus delicti.
This section refers to extrajudicial confessions.
Corroborative Evidence - is additional evidence
of a difference character to the same point.
Cumulative Evidence - evidence of the same
kind and to the same state of facts.
Demonstrative Evidence - is a tangible
evidence that merely illustrates a matter of
importance in the litigation such as maps,
diagrams, models, summaries and other
materials created especially for litigation.
Direct Evidence - that which proves the fact in
dispute without the aid of any inference or
presumption.
Doctine Of Processual Presumption - absent
any of the evidence or admission, the foreign law
is presumed to be the same as that in the
Philippines.
Document - any substance having any matter
expressed or described upon it by marks capable
of being read.
- is a deed, instrument or other duly
authorized appear by which something is proved,
evidenced or set forth.

Documentary Evidence - evidence supplied by

written instruments or derived from conventional
symbols, such as letters, by which ideas are
represented on material substances.

and those facts which the defendant must prove

in order to establish a defense set up by him, but
only when the fact alleged by the one party is not
admitted by the other party.

Dying
Declaration The
ante
mortem
statements made by a person after the mortal
wound has been inflicted under the belief that the
death is certain, stating the fact concerning the
cause of and the circumstances surrounding the
attack.

Facts Relevant To The Issue - are those facts

which render the probable existence or nonexistence of a fact in issue, or some other
relevant fact.

Equipose Rule - Where the evidence gives rise

to two probabilities, one consistent with
defendants innocence, and another indicative of
his guilt, that which is favorable to the accused
should be considered.
Estoppel By Deed the tenant is not permitted
to deny title of his landlord at the time of the
commencement of the land-lord tenant
relationship. If the title asserted is one that is
alleged to have been acquired subsequent to the
commencement of that relation, the presumption
will not apply.
Estoppel In Pais - whenever a party has, by his
own declaration, act, or omission, intentionally
and deliberately lead another to believe a
particular thing to be true and act upon such
belief, he cannot, in any litigation arising out of
such declaration, act or omission, be permitted to
falsify it.
Expert Witness - one who belongs to the
profession or calling to which the subject matter
of the inquiry relates to and who possesses
special knowledge on questions on which he
proposes to express an opinion.

Factum Probandum - the ultimate fact or the

fact sought to be established.
- Refers to proposition
Factum Probans - is the evidentiary fact or the
fact by which the factum probandum is to be
established. Materials which establish the
proposition.
Hearsay Rule - Any evidence, whether oral or
documentary is hearsay if its probative value is
not based on the personal knowledge of the
witness but on the knowledge of some other
person not on the witness stand.
Impeaching Evidence - a proper foundation
must be laid for the impeaching questions, by
calling attention of such party to his former
statement so as to give him an opportunity to
explain before such admissions are offered in
evidence.
Implied Admissions - are those which may be
inferred from the acts, declarations or omission of
a party. Therefore, an admission may be implied
from conduct, statement of silence of a party.
Independent Evidence - admissions are original
evidence and no foundation is necessary for their
introduction in evidence.

Express Admissions - are those made in

definite, certain and unequivocal language.
Extra Judicial Admissions - are those made out
of court, or in a judicial proceeding other than the
one under consideration.
Fact - thing done or existing.
Facts In Issue - are those facts which the
plaintiff must prove in order to establish his claim

Intermediate Ambiguity - situation where an

ambiguity partakes of the nature of both patent
and latent. In this, the words are seemingly clear
and with a settled meaning, is actually equivocal
and admits of two interpretations. Here, parol

evidence is admissible to clarify the ambiguity

provided that the matter is put in issue by the
pleader.
Example: Dollars, tons and ounces.
Issue - is the point or points in question, at the
conclusion of the pleadings which one side
affirms, and the other side denies.
Judicial Admissions - are those so made in the
pleadings filed or in the progress of a trial.
- It is one made in
connection with a judicial proceeding in which it
is offered, while an extrajudicial admission
is any other admission.
Judicial Notice - no more than that the court will
bring to its aid and consider, without proof of the
facts, its knowledge of those matters of public
concern which are known by all well-informed
persons.
- cognizance of certain facts
which judges may take and act on without proof
because they are already known to them.
Material Evidence - evidence directed to prove a
fact in issue as determined by the rules of
substantive law and pleadings. The test is
whether the fact it intends to prove is an issue or
not. AS to whether a fact is in issue or not is in
turn determined by the substantive law, the
pleadings, the pre-trial order and by the
admissions or confessions on file. Consequently,
evidence may be relevant but may be immaterial
in the case.
Negative Evidence - when the witness did not
see or know of the occurrence of a fact. There is
a total disclaimer of persona knowledge, hence
without any representation or disavowal that the
fact in question could or could not have existed
or happened. It is admissible only if it tends to
contradict positive evidence of the other side or
would tend to exclude the existence of fact sworn
to by the other side.
Object Evidence - is a tangible object that
played some actual role on the matter that gave
rise to the litigation. For instance, a knife.
Objective or Real Evidence - directly addressed

to the senses of the court and consist of tangible

things exhibited or demonstrated in open
court, in an ocular inspection, or at place
designated by the court for its view or
observation of an exhibition, experiment or
demonstration. This is referred to as autoptic
preference.
Omnia praesumuntur rite et solemniter esse
acta
donec
probetur
in
contrarium all things are presumed to have
been done regularly and with due formality until
the contrary is proved.
Opinion - an inference or conclusion drawn from
facts observed.
Ordinary Opinion Evidence - that which is
given by a witness who is of ordinary capacity
and who has by opportunity acquired a particular
knowledge which is outside the limits of common
observation and which may be of value in
elucidating a matter under consideration.
Parol Evidence - any evidence aliunde, whether
oral or written, which is intended or tends to vary
or contradict a complete and enforceable
agreement embodied in a document.
Patent or Extrinsic Ambiguity - is such
ambiguity which is apparent on the face of the
writing itself and requires something to be added
in order to ascertain the meaning of the words
used. In this case, parol evidence is not
admissible, otherwise the court would be creating
a contract between the parties.

Pedigree includes
relationship,
family
genealogy, birth, marriage, death, the dates
when, and the placer where these facts occurred
and the names of their relatives. It embraces also
facts of family history intimately connected with
pedigree.
Positive Evidence - when the witness affirms
that a fact did or did not occur. Entitled to a
greater weight since the witness represents of his

personal knowledge the presence or absence of

a fact.
Presumption - An inference as to the existence
or non-existence of a fact which courts are
permitted to draw from the proof of other facts.
Presumption Juris or Of Law is a
deduction which the law expressly directs
to be made from particular facts.
Presumption Hominis Or Of Fact is a
deduction which reason draws from facts
proved without an express direction from
the law to that effect.
Prima Facie Evidence - that which is standing
alone, unexplained or uncontradicted, is sufficient
to maintain the proposition affirmed.
Primary Evidence - that which the law regards
as affording the greatest certainty of the fact in
question. Also referred to as the best evidence.
Privies - those who have mutual or successive
relationship to the same right of property or
subject
matter,
such
as
personal
representatives, heirs, devisees, legatees,
assigns, voluntary grantee or judgment creditors
or purchasers from them without notices to the
fact.
Privity - mutual succession of relationship to the
same rights of property.
Proof - the result or effect of evidence. When the
requisite quantum of evidence of a particular fact
has been duly admitted and given weight,
the result is called the proof of such fact.
Relevant Evidence - evidence having any value
in reason as tending to prove any matter
provable in an action. The test is the logical
relation of the evidentiary fact to the fact in issue,
whether the former tends to establish the
probability or improbability of the latter.
Res Gestae - literally means things done; it
includes circumstances, facts, and declarations
incidental to the main facts or transaction
necessary to illustrate its character and also

includes acts, words, or declarations which are

closely connected therewith as to constitute
part of the transaction.
Rule Of Exclusion - that which is secondary
evidence cannot inceptively be introduced as the
original writing itself must be produced in court,
except in the four instances mentioned in Section
3.
Secondary Evidence - that which is inferior to
the primary evidence and is permitted by law only
when the best evidence is not available.
Known as the substitutionary evidence.
- shows that better or
primary evidence exists as to the proof of fact in
question. It is deemed less reliable.
Self Serving Declaration - is one which has
been made extrajudicially by the party to favor
his interests. It is not admissible in evidence.
Testimonial Evidence - is that which is
submitted to the court through the testimony or
deposition of a witness.

Unsound Mind - any mental aberration, whether

organic or functional, or induced by drugs or
hypnosis.
Witness - reference to a person who testifies in a
case or gives evidence before a judicial tribunal.