 Evidence is the raw material of argumentation.

 It consists of facts, opinions, and objects that

are used to generate proof.
 Direct evidence is evidence that tends to show
the existence of a fact in question without the
intervention of the proof of any other fact.
 Presumptive evidence, or indirect or
circumstantial evidence, is evidence that tends
to show the existence of a fact in question by
proving other, related facts— facts from which
the fact in question may be inferred.
A. Judicial Notice (Judicial means legal or
official.)
 Judicial notice is the quickest, simplest, and
easiest way of introducing evidence into an
argument. Judicial notice (the term is borrowed
from the courts) is the process whereby certain
evidence may be introduced into an argument
without the necessity of substantiation; it is
assumed to be so well known that it does not
require substantiation.
 In almost any argument it is necessary to refer
to various matters of common knowledge in order
to lay the foundation for other evidence to be
introduced later and to set the argument in its
proper context.
 the authority of a judge to accept as facts
certain matters which are of common
knowledge from sources which guarantee
accuracy or are a matter of official record,
without the need for evidence establishing the
fact.
 Examples of matters given judicial notice are
public and court records, tides, times of sunset
and sunrise, government rainfall and
temperature records, known historic events or
the fact that ice melts in the sun.
 B. Public Records
 Public records are often used as a source of
evidence. On many matters they are the most
important evidence, because private
individuals or organizations lack the authority
or resources to assemble much of the evidence
that can be found only in public records
 Public records include all documents compiled
or issued by or with the approval of any
governmental agency
 Examples are birth certificates, death
certificates, marriage certificate,deeds, reports
of congressional hearings (upper and lower
house), and the minutes of a town meeting
C. Public Writings
 Public writings, another frequently used source
of evidence, include all written material, other
than public records, made available to the
general public.
 In this category are such diverse materials as
the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Weekly
World News, a college textbook and the
campus humor magazine, the World Almanac
and The Great Gatsby, and a Brookings
Institution report and an astrologer’schart.
D. Private Writings
 Private writings include all written material
prepared for private rather than public use.
 Examples: last will and testament, private
contracts, bank accounts, private conversations
E. Testimony of Witnesses
 Testimony in court or before a governmental
body is usually given under oath and is subject
to penalties for perjury or contempt.
 Testimony outside the courtroom or hearing
room is not subject to the same legal
restrictions and is usually more informal.\
 The “testimony” may constitute a valuable lead
that will enable you to find admissible
evidence.
F. Personal Inspection
 When personal inspection is used as a source of
evidence, something is presented for
examination to the persons rendering the
decision.
 For instance, the automobile sales person may
invite customers to lift the hood and inspect the
motor; a stockbroker may show the financial
statement of a company to a client; or a senator
may bring a bag of groceries into the Senate
chamber for use during a speech on nutrition.
 College students frequently are asked to
perform personal inspections. For example, the
geology professor may offer a sample of rock
for the class to examine; the economics
professor may sketch a supply-and-demand
curve on the board; or the music professor may
play a portion of a recording for a music
appreciation class.
 Types of Evidence
 ■ Judicial or Extrajudicial Evidence
 ■ Primary or Secondary Evidence
 ■ Written or Unwritten Evidence
 ■ Real or Personal Evidence
 ■ Lay or Expert Evidence
 ■ Prearranged or Casual Evidence
 ■ Negative Evidence
 ■ Evidence Aliunde
 ■ Alternative Forms of Evidence
 is also known as “extralegal” or “incompetent” evidence.
 Incompetent means “ not admissible in court ”
 Out of court utterance, either written or oral.
When offered into court as evidence, it is subject
to the Hearsay rule and its exceptions.
 A statement made out of court that is offered in court as evi
dence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.
 Out of
Court statements hinder the ability of the judge or jury
to probe testimony for inaccuracies caused by Ambiguity,
insincerity, faulty perception, or erroneous memory.
Thus, statements made out of court are perceived
as untrustworthy.
 Hearsay comes in many forms. It may be a written
or oral statement;
it also includes gestures. Essentially
anything intended to assert a fact is considered
a statement for the purposes of the Hearsay Rule.
A nodding of the head may be a
silent assertion of the
word yes. A witness pointing to a gun may be assertin
g, "That is the murder weapon." Even silence
has been accepted as a statement.
(1) Before being allowed to testify, a witness
generally must swear or affirm that his or
her testimony will be truthful.
(2) The witness must be personally present at the
trial or proceeding
in order to allow the judge or jury
to observe the testimony firsthand.
(3) The witness is subject to cross-examination at the
option of any party who did not call the witness to
testify.
 A doctrine of evidence applied by a court that allows
the court to recognize and accept the
existence of a particular fact commonly known
by persons of average intelligence without
establishing its existence by admitting
evidence in a civil or criminal action.
A. Adjudicative Matters- those facts related to the case under
consideration and which may affect the outcome thereof.
 1. In a case where the accused set up denial and alibi being
then in Manila, court may take judicial notice that normal
travel time by bus from Manila to Baguio City is between 6
to 7 hours
 2. Where the accused set up accidental shooting, the court
may take notice that a revolver does not fire accidentally
because pressure must be applied to the trigger
 3. Where a witness claimed to have seen a person by the
light of day at around 6:00 PM on December some 10 meters
away, courts may take notice of the shortened days in
December and that by 6:30 there is no more day light.

 B. Legislative Matters- those facts which relate either to: (i) the existence of a law or legal
principle (ii) the reason, purpose or philosophy behind the law or of a legal principle as
formulated by the legislature or the court (iii) the law or principle itself.

The following are examples:

 1. The need to protect Filipino OFWs as a primary reason behind the Migrant Workers
Act or the increase in the incidence of drug related crimes as reason for the increase in
the penalty for violation of the drug law
 2. That the passage of the Anti Terrorism Law and the Anti-Money Laundering Law
were influenced by the demands of the international community
 3. Taking notice of the increase in the age of criminal liability
 4. That documents presented in the Register of Deeds are recorded according to the date
and time of their presentation
 5. The policy of the law as regards bail in heinous crimes or of the policy of the state
against the use of illegal means to obtain evidence
 6. Gun Ban during election period
 An authentic document or item that is offered as pro
of in a lawsuit, as contrasted with a copy of, or subst
itute for, theoriginal.
 Primary evidence, more commonly known as b
est evidence, is the best available substantiation
of the existence of an objectbecause it is the act
ual item
 A reproduction of, or substitute for, an original doc
ument or item of proof that is offered to
establish a particular issue in a legal action.
 Written evidence is evidence supplied by
writings of all kinds: books, newspapers,
and magazines, as well as less frequently used
types of writing, such as Roman
numerals carved on the cornerstone of a building.
 Unwritten evidence includes
both oral testimony and objects offered for
personal inspection.
 In arguments outside the courtroom, written
evidence generally is given
greater weight than oral evidence, because it is
easier to substantiate.
 Real evidence is furnished by objects placed on
view or under inspection. In the
 courtroom real evidence may consist of
fingerprints, scars, or weapons. Outside
 the courtroom a farmer may be asked to inspect
test plots in which different
 types of seed are used; a customer might be invited
to taste a new food product;
 a student might be invited to examine a famous
painting in a museum; or a customer
 might be asked to test drive a new car.
 Personal evidence is evidence furnished by
persons, and it may be in the form
 of oral or written testimony. The credibility we
attach to personal evidence depends
 in large part on the competence and honesty
we attribute to the person
 providing the testimony.
 Lay evidence is provided by persons without
any special training, knowledge,
 or experience in the matter under
consideration. Such evidence is useful in areas
 that do not require special qualifications.
 For example, in debates on “rightto-
 work” laws, the testimony of “rank-and-file”
union members or managers
 of small businesses was frequently important.
 Laypersons, assuming they meet the qualifications
of a good witness, are usually competent to testify
on a matter of fact they have observed; however,
their opinion of the significance of the fact is
another matter. Thus the testimony of a rank-and-
file steelworker as to how many members of his or
her local attended the meeting at which a strike
vote was taken would be good evidence, assuming
that the steelworker was an honest and competent
person. However, his or her opinion about the
effect of a steel strike on the national economy
could not be considered as more valuable thanthat
of any other layperson of comparable education
and intelligence.
 Expert evidence is evidence provided by
persons with special training, knowledge, or
experience in the matter under consideration.
 Prearranged evidence is created for the specific
purpose of recording certain information for
possible future reference.
 The average person has a considerable amount
of prearranged evidence: birth certificates,
driver’s licenses, marriage certificates, deeds to
property, social security cards, insurance
policies, receipts, canceled checks, contracts,
military discharge papers, transcripts of college
records.
 it is intended for future reference
 Casual evidence is created without any effort being
made to create it and is not designed for possible
future reference
 Casual evidence is valuable because the party
concerned did nothing to create the evidence. In
the robbery trial example the accused did not
know a photographer was coming to the scene of
the traffic jam, and he did not ask to have his
picture taken or published. As the accused did
nothing to create the evidence, the jury was all the
more ready to believe it was genuine and not a
prepared alibi
 Negative evidence is the absence of evidence
that might reasonably be expected to be found
were the issue in question true. For example, if
the name of a person cannot be found in an
official list of graduates of your college, this
is negative evidence that he or she did not
graduate from the school.
 also known as “extraneous” or “adminicular”
evidence, explains or clarifies other evidence.
Often the meaning or significance of evidence
is not apparent on the presentation of the
evidence per se; therefore, that evidence must
be explained by the presentation of other
evidence.
 The form of such evidence may be in narrative,
poetry, prose, art, music, or hip-hop. The
content, although challenging to measure, can
be powerful and emotional, and can offer
viewpoints excluded by traditional standards