The inner life
Burden of Proof
Direct answer
Burden of Proof: The burden of proof is the duty of whoever makes a claim to support it with evidence. Those who doubt the claim are not required to disprove it first.
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At a glance
- Also called
- onus probandi
- Found in
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Related
- Falsifiability, Occam's Razor, Conspiracy Theory, Primary Source
The burden of proof is the duty of whoever makes a claim to support it with evidence. Those who doubt the claim are not required to disprove it first.
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What is the burden of proof?
The burden of proof answers a simple question: when two people disagree, who has to produce the evidence? The rule, in law and in ordinary argument, is that it lies with the one who asserts. A person who says a plot exists has to show it. The listener does not have to prove there is none, which is often impossible.
Courts add a second idea, the standard of proof: how strong the evidence must be. A criminal charge must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, a civil claim on the balance of probabilities. Outside court a fair version is that the more a claim would overturn, the more evidence it needs.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Conspiracies, examined.
What sets Burden of Proof apart
The rule exists because negatives are hard to prove. No one can show that no plot has ever existed anywhere, so if doubters had to disprove each assertion, any assertion would stand. Law therefore assigns the work to the party that wants something changed: the prosecutor, the claimant, the accuser. It also fixes how heavy the load is, and that weight differs between a criminal trial, a civil suit and a scientific journal.
- Roman maxim: proof lies on him who asserts, not on him who denies
- Where recorded: Justinian's Digest, sixth century
- Criminal standard: beyond reasonable doubt
- Civil standard: the balance of probabilities, or preponderance of the evidence
- Popular form: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, 1980
Often mistaken for something else: The standard of proof is how strong the evidence must be; the burden of proof is who has to supply it.
The story behind Burden of Proof
Roman law put the rule in a maxim preserved in Justinian's Digest of the sixth century: proof lies on him who asserts, not on him who denies. English and American criminal law built the presumption of innocence on it. The saying that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence was made popular by the astronomer Carl Sagan in 1980 and echoes earlier remarks by Laplace and Hume.
Why Burden of Proof matters
Without it, any claim that cannot be disproved would have to be accepted, and no argument could ever end.
How to read Burden of Proof
Readers apply it by asking who is asserting what, and by declining the demand to prove a negative.
Burden of Proof in practice: an example
If a video says a famous death was staged, it is for the video to show the staging, not for viewers to prove the death.
Where readings of Burden of Proof go wrong
The rule decides who must bring evidence, not who is right; a claim can be true before anyone has shown it.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Aliases
- burden of proof meaning, onus probandi, who has the burden of proof, shifting the burden of proof
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is the burden of proof?
It is the obligation to back up a claim with evidence. It rests on the person making the claim, in a courtroom and in everyday argument alike.
Who has the burden of proof in an argument?
Whoever asserts something has it. A person who says a secret plan exists must show evidence for it. Others are not obliged to prove that no such plan exists.
