Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Quotes

I realised that my blog must be pretty boring, since I really have nothing meaningful to share. Perhaps some quotes which I hear or read may help to make it just slightly more interesting and /or memorable. At the very least, it's worth a read or worth a little laugh yea?

Quote of the day from Lord Denning on proof beyond reasonable doubt:

“That degree is well settled. It need not reach certainty, but it must carry a high degree of probability. Proof beyond reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond a shadow of a doubt. The law would fail to protect the community if it permitted fanciful possibilities to deflect the course of justice. If the evidence is so strong against a man as to leave only a remote possibility in his favour which can be dismissed with sentence ‘of course, it is possible but not in the least probable,’ the case is proved beyond reasonable doubt."

I have always marvelled at how Lord Denning is able to put such deep thoughts and theories into such beautiful quotes and analogies. And yet at the same time, it all seems so much of common sense!

It is of course common sense that reasonable doubt does not mean shadow of doubt, yet lawyers seem to have trouble understanding that. Perhaps it is due to the limitation of the circumstances, but really, how likely is it that any case can be proven beyond a shadow of doubt?

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