Kinds of Evidence

a) Object or real evidence is the kind of evidence which is directly addressed to the senses of the
court and consists of tangible things exhibited, viewed, or demonstrated in open court.
b) Documentary evidence is evidence which consists of writing or any material containing letters,
words, numbers, figures, symbols or other modes of written expression offered as proof of their
contents.
c) Testimonial evidence is oral evidence given by the witness on the witness stand or any
proceeding.
d) Direct evidence is the kind of evidence if believed proves the fact in issue.
d.1) direct evidence of the crime is not the only matrix wherefrom a trial court may draw its
conclusion and finding of guilt. The rules of evidence allow a trial court to rely on circumstantial
evidence to support its conclusion of guilt.
e) Circumstantial evidence is that evidence which proves a fact or series of facts from which the
facts in issue may be established by inference.
f) Demonstrative evidence is the kind of evidence which demonstrates the real thing.
g) Corroborative evidence is the kind of evidence which merely supplements evidence which has
already been given tending to strengthen the same.
g.1) when is corroborative evidence necessary? It is deemed necessary only when there are
reasons to warrant the suspicion that the witness falsified the truth or that his observation had
been inaccurate.
g.2) testimony of an informant is merely corroborative and cumulative to that of the poseur
buyer.
h) Cumulative evidence is the kind of evidence which is of the same kind and character tending to
prove the same proposition.
i) Positive evidence is the kind of evidence which a witness affirms that a fact did or did not occur.
i.a positive identification where categorical and consistent and without any showing of ill motive
on the part of the eye witness testifying on the matter prevails over a denial which, of not
substantiated by clear and convincing evidence is negative and self-serving evidence
underserving of the weight of law. They cannot be given greater evidentiary value over the
testimony of credible witnesses who testify on affirmative matters.
j) Negative evidence is a testimony that a certain fact did not exist.
j.1) denial and alibi are negative evidence. the well-established rule is that denial and alibi are
self-serving negative evidence; they cannot prevail over the spontaneous, positive, and credible
testimonies of the prosecution witness who pointed to and identified the accused-appellant as
the malefactor.
k) Prima facie evidence the term prima facie evidence denotes evidence which, if unexplained
or uncontradicted, is sufficient to sustain the proposition it supports or to establish the facts
prima facie means it is sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disapproved
or rebutted.
l) Conclusive evidence is evidence which established the fact.

m) Substantial evidence in proceedings before administrative and quasi-judicial agencies, the

quantum of evidence required to establish a fact is substantial evidence, or that level of relevant
evidence which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to justify a conclusion.
n) Preponderance of evidence is the weight, credit, and value of the aggregate evidence on either
side and is usually considered to be synonymous with the term greater weight of the evidence
or greater weight of the credible evidence. Preponderance of evidence is a phrase which, in
the last analysis, means probability of the truth. It is evidence which is more convincing to the
court as worthy of belief than that which is offered in opposition thereto.
n.1) in civil cases, the party having burden of proof must establish his case by a preponderance
of evidence. In civil cases the party having the burden of proof must establish his case by a
preponderance of evidence; preponderance of evidence is a phrase which, in the last analysis,
means probability of the truth.
o) Proof beyond reasonable doubt is the required quantum of evidence in order to convict an
accused. A judgment of conviction must rest on nothing less than moral certainty, moral
certainty in an unprejudiced mind which that it was the accused who committed the crime,
failing which the accused must be exonerated. If the prosecution failed to discharge its burden
of establishing the guilt of the accused, it is unnecessary to still pass on the accuseds defense.
p) Clear and convincing evidence is a kind of evidence which established in the minds of a trier of
facts a firm belief on the existence of the fact in issue.
q) Competent evidence is the kind of evidence which is not otherwise excluded by law or by the
rules.
r) Incompetent evidence is the kind of evidence which is excluded by the law or by the rules
s) Relevant evidence is the kind of evidence which has a relation to the fact in issue.
t) Material evidence one that is directed to prove a fact in issue as determined by the rules on
substantive law and pleadings.
u) Rebuttal evidence is any component evidence to explain, repel, counteract, or disprove
adversarys proof. It is receivable only where new matters have been developed by the evidence
of one of the parties and is generally limited to a reply to new matters.
v) Sur-rebuttal evidence evidence in reply to or to rebut new matter introduced in rebuttal/
w) Primary evidence is a kind of evidence which assures the greatest certainty of fact sought to be
proved, and which does not in itself. Indicate the existence of other and better proof.
x) Secondary evidence is any evidence other than the document itself 1) a copy; 2) recital of its
contents in some authentic document; 3) recollection of the witness.
y) Evidence in chief is the primary and main evidence presented by the parties to prove their cause
or defense.
z) Newly discovered evidence evidence, to be considered newly discovered, must be one that
could not, by the exercise of due diligence, have been discovered before the trial in the court
below. The determinative test is the presence of due or reasonable diligence to locate the thing
to be used as evidence in the trial. For new trial to be granted on the ground of newly
discovered evidence, the concurrence of the ff conditions must be obtained: a) the evidence
must have been discovered after the trial; b) the evidence could not have been discovered at
the trial even with the exercise of reasonable diligence; c) the evidence is material, not merely

cumulative. Corroborative, or impeaching; and d) the evidence must affect the merits of the
case and produce a different result if admitted.
Hierarchy
1)
2)
3)
4)

Proof beyond reasonable doubt

Clear and convincing evidence
Preponderance of evidence
Substantial evidence