Evidence in family proceedings 2018

• Standard of proof: overall assessment on the preponderance of evidence.
• Obtaining evidence from the police in care proceedings.
• Expert evidence: a worsening squeeze on legal aid payments in children proceedings.

The law of evidence is mostly defined by the common law, and can only be changed by statute or by higher common law authority. Court rules may define the common law, but they cannot change it. In ‘Achieving best evidence in the civil courts’, NLJ 19 October 2018 at p15, Richard Samuel illustrates this in relation to oral evidence in cases where it ‘really counts’, under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR 1998) (ie CPR 1998 rr 32.4(1) and (2) (witness statements as a summary of oral evidence), 32.5(2) (statements as evidence in chief) and 32.10 (witnesses with served statements only to give evidence).