SUMAILA BIELBIEL V. ADAMU DRAMANI & ANOR.

RULING

DR. DATE-BAH JSC:

There are two kinds of burden of proof recognized by the common law and which are preserved in Ghanaian law by the Evidence Act 1975 (NRCD 323). In the common law, some cases and text writers have made the distinction between the “legal burden of proof” and the “evidential burden of proof”. This distinction is mirrored in the Evidence Act 1975 by the distinction between “the burden of persuasion” and the “burden of producing evidence”. The burden of persuasion is defined in section 10(1) as: “the obligation of a party to establish a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the tribunal of fact or the court.” The burden of producing evidence is defined in section 11(1) as: “the obligation of a party to introduce sufficient evidence to avoid a ruling on the issue against that party”.

The distinction between the two burdens of proof is important because the incidence of the burden of producing evidence can lead to a defendant acquiring the right t…