A presumption in law allows a judge or jury to assume a fact is true if another fact can be demonstrated. It can be rebutted with evidence. Examples include paternity, custody, and criminal cases. In commercial law, there is a presumption of a legally binding agreement in a contract.
In a typical court case, each party must present evidence to a judge or jury to sufficiently prove their position. An exception, also called a presumption, to this rule exists in most jurisdictions. In general, a presumption is a legal notion that allows a judge or jury to assume that a particular fact is true if another fact, or set of facts, can be demonstrated by a litigant. A legal presumption can be rebutted if one of the parties is able to present evidence that actually rebuts it. This is known as a rebuttable presumption.
In principle, rebutting a presumption requires the objecting party to adequately demonstrate that the presumption is false. The party can do this by submitting testimony, documents or papers to support its position. In general, the presumption will be considered rebutted if a reasonable person of average intelligence could rationally decide that it does not apply to the case at hand. The rebuttable presumptions extend to almost all areas of law.
A common example of a rebuttable presumption is found in family law. As a rule, if a woman is married when she gives birth to a child, it is assumed that her husband is the father of the child. This assumption can be refuted if an involved party disputes it and offers evidence showing that the husband is not in fact the father of the child. Many jurisdictions also adhere to a rebuttable presumption that if there is domestic violence between parents, the abusive parent cannot have custody of the couple’s minor children.
In the context of criminal law, in many countries there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused. In other words, a criminal defendant is considered innocent until he is found guilty by the prosecution. Typically, the prosecuting attorney must refute this rebuttable presumption by presenting evidence at trial that proves the defendant committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt or some other level of legal proof.
The notion of rebuttable presumption can also emerge in company law. For example, it is generally assumed that if two or more parties agree to share business profits, they have formed a general partnership. When a commercial contract is made, there is a rebuttable presumption that the contracting parties intended to create a legally binding agreement. The burden of refuting this assumption ordinarily falls on the party intending to refuse the contract.
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