9-410: In law , a presumption is an " inference of a particular fact ". There are two types of presumptions: rebuttable presumptions and irrebuttable (or conclusive) presumptions. A rebuttable presumption will either shift the burden of production (requiring the disadvantaged party to produce some evidence to the contrary) or the burden of proof (requiring the disadvantaged party to show the presumption
18-516: A criminal offence . The age has continually been under debate with adjustments being made in line with rulings, the results of psychological research and to some extent public pressure. The age was seven at common law , and raised by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 to eight (section 50) and by the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 to ten, at which it remains. In the case of rape , if it
27-400: Is found that the defendant intentionally deceived the complainant as to the "nature or the purpose of the act", or if "the defendant intentionally induced the complainant to consent by impersonation of a "person known personally to the complainant"" it can be conclusively presumed the defendant is guilty of rape and must be convicted. Law Too Many Requests If you report this error to
36-521: Is wrong); in short, a fact finder can reject a rebuttable presumption based on other evidence. Conversely, a conclusive/irrebuttable presumption cannot be challenged by contradictory facts or evidence. Sometimes, a presumption must be triggered by a predicate fact—that is, the fact must be found before the presumption applies. The ancient Jewish law code, the Talmud , included reasoning from presumptions ( hazakah ), propositions taken to be true unless there
45-414: The case whatever the evidence to the contrary. For example, a child below the age of criminal responsibility is presumed to be incapable of committing a felony. In Australian law, it is a conclusive presumption that no child under the age of 10 can be held responsible for criminal action. This presumption exists to protect children by acknowledging that they do not have sufficient development to understand
54-455: The gravity and consequences of committing a criminal act. Recent amendments to Impaired Driving law allows the Crown to rely on a conclusive presumption. Normally, where the police conduct a breathalyzer test within 2 hours of the operation of a conveyance (or care and control), the court can accept the blood alcohol concentration as being the same at the time of the operation of the vehicle as at
63-416: The seventeenth century by Edward Coke . A number of presumptions are found in most common law jurisdictions. Examples of these presumptions include: A conclusive presumption, also known as an irrebuttable presumption, is a type of presumption used in several legal systems. In English law , a conclusive presumption is a presumption of law that cannot be rebutted by evidence and must be taken to be
72-454: The time of the offence. If the test is conducted outside the two hours, and the blood alcohol concentration is greater than 20 mg of alcohol/100 mL of blood, there is now a conclusive presumption that the blood alcohol concentration can be increased by 5 mg of alcohol/100 mL of blood for each 30 minutes. A child below the age of criminal responsibility cannot be held legally responsible for their actions, and so cannot be convicted of committing
81-515: Was reason to believe otherwise, such as "One does not ordinarily pay a debt before term." The same concept was found in ancient Roman law , where, for example, if there was doubt as to whether a child was really the issue of someone who had been left money in a will, the presumption was in favour of the child. Medieval Roman and canon law graded presumptions according to strength: light, medium or probable, and violent. These gradings and many individual presumptions were taken over into English law in
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