- What is Prima Facie?
- Prima Facie vs res ipsa loquitur
What is Prima Facie?
The term Prima Facie is a legal terminology that depicts a legal scenario presented by the prosecution in case of a legal claim. The members who are associated with the law must have heard about this terminology. Prima Facie acts as enough evidence to prove that the defendant is at fault. Individuals who are running a company or a solo business must enhance their knowledge base with such legal terms to avoid legal complications It plays an important role in understanding the basics of the court of law.
The word “Prima Facie” is derived from a Latin expression that means, “at first impression” or “at first sight”. The term is more specifically used in civil cases,where the burden of proof is on the petitioner.Prima facie refers to a case where pre-trial pieces of evidence were reviewed by a judge. and determined to be sufficient pieces of evidence to warrant the trial.However, just because a case has been determined prima facie doesn't mean that the petitioner will win. If the petitioner lacks sufficient evidence supporting their claim, then the court will likely dismiss the case. Thus If the court determines that a prima facie case exists, the defendant must present evidence that overcomes the prima facie case in order to prevail.
Prima facie vs res ipsa loquitur
People often get confused with the terms “Prima facie” and “res ipsa loquitur”. The term “res ipsa loquitur” is a Latin word that means “the thing speaks for itself”. It represents the common law doctrine that depicts that there is definitely a fault by the defendant i.e, where the evidence is itself sufficient to prove the guilt of the defendant. Here, it is quite easy to guess the whole scenario just by seeing the evidence, and anybody can make the judgement. Therefore, there is no need to find additional evidence to find the fault. Whereas the term “Prima Facie” shows that there are pieces of evidence that need to go to trial in a court of law
