| Presumption belongs to the category of evidence law, which indicates the legal relationships between basic facts and presumed facts. Presumption includes two forms, that is, the irrebuttable and rebuttable presumptions. In litigation, fact-finding includes three stages: adducing, examination and ratification of evidence, and the former two stages constitute the process of proof. Presumption is an intellectual activity between proof and inference. Permissive or “weak” presumption has some characteristics of inference, while the irrebuttable presumption and the rebuttable presumption of burden of proof and persuasion are not proof, but the interruption in the process of proof.Proof is a process of logical argument on facts. It is an establishment or assertion of the relevancy between evidential facts and constitutive facts and its conclusion must have a certain necessity. Presumption is an intuitive activity in which presumptive conclusion can be drawn from experiential commonsense directly. Presumption does not need to be proved by evidence and there are no chains of proof. Thus presumption is a temporal assumption and a type of legal relationship established on certain social policies. It is an interruption in the process of logical proof. It is no doubt that presumption simplifies the process of proof, raises efficiency of litigation and maintains the harmonious value. However, as an amendment or adjustment method of the burden of proof, presumption is mainly applied in civil cases and can generally not to be used in criminal cases, because presumption can “interrupt” the process of proof and shake the accuracy and justice of criminal proof. Of course, presumption is not absolutely prohibited in criminal cases, but the domains and conditions for its application should be limited strictly. Firstly, the principle of Presumption of Innocence should not be violated and the proof of constitutive facts should not be displaced by presumption. Secondly, the criminal standards of proof should not be degraded. To enhancing the accuracy and justice in fact-finding, the standard of beyond reasonable doubt is the bottom-line which no presumption can overstep. |
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