Whoever desires any Court to give judgment as to any legal right or liability dependent on the existence to facts which he asserts, must prove that those facts exist.
When a person is bound to prove the existence of any fact, it is said that the burden of proof lies on that person.
Illustration
(a) A desires a Court to give judgment that B shall be punished for a crime which A says B has committed.
A must prove that B has committed the crime.
(b) A desires a Court to give judgment that he is entitled to certain land in the possession of B, by reason of facts which he asserts, and which B denies to be true.
A must prove the existence of those facts.
COMMENTS
Joint family property
Merely because some of properties continue to stand in the name of plaintiff that by itself cannot lead to any conclusion that the property purchased by any one member of the family would necessarily be a part of joint family property and when evidence shows that the person who has purchased property had been engaged in an independent business for a sufficient long period; Baban Girju v. Namdeo Girju Bangar, AIR 1999 Bom 46.
Reasonable proof of ownership
In absence of any reasonable proof that defendant was the actual owner of the property, and plaintiff was only a name given does not prove that respondent was owner and plaint maker was only a name given to the property; Rama Kanta Jain v. M.S. Jain, AIR 1999 Del 281.
What to be proved by prosecution
It is well settled that the prosecution can succeed by substantially proving the very story it alleges. It must stand on its own legs. It cannot take advantage of the weakness of the defence. Nor can the court on its own make out a new case for the prosecution and convict the accused on that basis; Narain Singh v. State, (1997) 2 Crimes 464 (Del).
