What is burden of proof?
Answer
Definitions
burden of proof (18c) 1. A party's duty to prove a disputed assertion or charge; a proposition regarding which of two contending litigants loses when there is no evidence on a question or when the answer is simply too difficult to find. • The burden of proof includes both the burden of persuasion and the burden of production. BURDEN OF PROOF, Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014)
The term "burden of proof" embraces two distinct concepts: The burden of producing evidence, and the burden of persuasion. The party assigned the burden of producing evidence must establish a prima facie case, which means that once the party rests, the Trial Judge must be satisfied that there has been offered enough evidence to provide a rational basis upon which the trier of fact could reach a favorable result, giving the party "every favorable inference which could reasonably be drawn from the evidence submitted" by the party. Prince, Richardson on Evidence § 3-201 (2008)