Evidence Sufficiency Criteria

Abstract

The purpose of the article consists in a search of objective foundations, on the base of which would be able the formulation of some stricter, than an appeal to «inner conviction», criteria of the evidence sufficiency (on condition of preliminary establishment of their authenticity, properness and admission). Methodology. The method of comparative analysis is used for the exposure of sources of basic contradictions, traced in the most widespread methodological approaches to decision of the examined problem in modern literature. The methods of logical modeling, generalization and formalization were used during the analysis of logical semantic bases of concept «sufficient foundation» as an objective and universal criteria of evidential base evaluation. The scientific novelty of offered approach to decision of the investigated problem consists in that it allows to reveal the basic sources of contradictions in interpretations of the meaning and criteria of evidence sufficiency, and also to outline the ways and means of their solving both in a theoretical plane and in legal practice. It is proved, that the effective way to overcome such contradictions is the concordance of judicial criteria of evaluation of evidences with the logical conditions of their sufficiency. The logical semantic basis of such conditions is a requirement, according to which the set of possible situations, where all the evidence data are synchronically true, must not exceed the sphere of empirical confirmation of correspondent article of proving. The logical «indicator» of implementation of this term is an incompatibility of the system of evidence data with the supposition about the absence of situation, which is being proved. Conclusions. The logical criteria of evidence sufficiency enable not only to carry out a clear evaluation of the collected evidential base, but also they essentially promote the rationalization of its forming and guarantee the provability of judicial decisions (as a concept «sufficient foundation» cannot have some specifically legal meaning, different from its interpretation in logic).

Keywords: legal argumentation; judicial proving; proving methodology; logical criteria of argumentation provability; logical requirements to the evidential base; evidential sufficiency criteria; objectivization of proving procedures.