Study Set Content:
Tregea v Godart AD 16 Stratford CJ
That what must be proved is a matter of substantive law and the manner of proving it is the concern of the rules of evidence.
Primary function of Law of Evidence
Prescribes what facts may be presented to court, as well as how and by whom this should be done.
Law of Evidence can be defined as
The field of law which generally regulates the proof of facts in a court
SA law of evidence belongs to
An Anglo-American family which includes countries like, UK,USA,AUSTRALIA,new zealand, canada, caribbean as well as anglo-phone countries like NIgeria, Kenya, Botswana and Malawi etc
English common law system is the
Comman law heritage for all thes countries' (incl sa) system of evidence
SA LoE is based on
Rules that were essentially designed for trial by jury however sa has not had jury trial since 1969
The English law of evidence
Is stricter than other systems in ruling out evidence
Reason behind the existence of exclusionary rules
Judges feared that juries would attach undue weight to untrustworthy evidence, so they were strict in ruling out certain types of evidence.
Law of evidence is a branch of
Adjective Law
Opposite of Adjective Law
Substantive Law
For a plaintiff to succeed in a civil case...
the plaintiff must prove certain elements of a claim
What those elements are is a question of
Substantive Law
How we go about proving those evidence is a question of
Adjective Law
Substantive Law describes :
The rights, duties and liabilites of certain parties
Adjective Law describes the
Procedure by which substantive law is applied
Examples of Substantive Law
Law of Contract, Delict, succession, persons, family
Examples of adjective law
Law of evidence, civil procedure law
Substantive law determines
The facts which must be proved
Adjective law determines
The manner of proof
Substantive common law is
Roman-Dutch Law
