The fundamental reason for the existence of four sets of discourse system of evidence attributes in China is that currently the Chinese academia has not yet realized the hierarchy of evidence attributes. The first manifestation of this hierarchy is that, based on the distinction between element theory and structure theory, elemental attributes such as relevance, authenticity and legitimacy are the basic elements of evidence evaluation, and structural attributes such as competency of evidence (or admissibility) and probative force are the embodiments of the structural process of fact-finding procedure. Among them, the three elemental attributes are parallel to each other with relevance taking the lead, and the two structural attributes form a relationship of progression based on the structural process of procedure. Meanwhile, the three elemental attributes affect the judgment of the two structural attributes to varying degrees. The second embodiment of the hierarchy is that, based on the distinction between epistemology and axiology, evidence attributes can be divided into natural attributes and legislative attributes. Among the elemental attributes, relevance and authenticity are the natural attributes promoting the internal objective of the accuracy of fact-finding, and legitimacy is the legislative attribute promoting external objectives other than the accuracy of fact-finding. Among the structural attributes, the competency of evidence is the legislative attribute of the legal problem, and the probative force is the natural attribute of the factual problem. The research paradigm in China should be changed from one that “focuses only on elements theory” or “pays attention only to the structure theory” to one that “pays equal attention to elements theory and structure theory”. In addition, Chinese academia should reshape the system of evidence rules through the improved western structural attributes or the improved “three Chinese style structural attributes” on the basis of a deep understanding on the proposition that “the system of evidence rules is the logical extension of the hierarchy of evidence attributes”. |