Maxims:-

Facta probanda:- The material facts on which the party relies for his
claim are called facta probanda and they must be stated in the pleadings.
But the facts or facts by means of which facta material facts are proved and
which are in the nature of particulars or evidence need not be set out in the
pleadings, Virender Nath Gautam v. Satpal Singh, AIR 2007 SC 581.
Facta sunt potentiora verbis:- Facts are more powerful than words.
Factum:- A person’s act or deed; anything stated or made certain.
Factum negantis nulla probatio:- No proof is incumbent on him who
denies a fact
Factum a judice quod ad ejus officium non spectat, non ratum
est: An act of a judge which does not pertain to his office is of no force.
Factum cuique suum, non adversario, nocere debet:- A man’s
actions should injure himself, not his adversary.
Factum non dicitur quod non perseverat:- That is not said to be
done which does not last.
What is factum Probandan and factum Probans?
a) Factum Probandum refers to the ultimate fact to be proven, or the
proposition to be established. That, which a party wants to prove to the
court. Factum Probans refers to the evidentiary facts by which the factum
probandum will be proved.
The Law of Evidence revolves around two cardinal things: facts and proof.
It is these two things that combine to form evidence, which the court may
or may not accept as showing the merit or otherwise of a party’s case.
Where the court believes the facts shown by a party in any proceeding exist
or when it is convinced that a reasonable person would see them as
existing, the fact is said to be proved. If the court is not satisfied that those
facts exist or is convinced that a reasonable person would not see them as
existing, the fact is said to be “disproved”. Thus ‘Facts’ are important in any
case. In this article, we shall study the meaning of the term “Fact” and the
classification of facts.
Steve Uglow in his book ‘Evidence: Text and Materials’ 1997 Edition says
the term “fact” is being used in three different senses:
• the information provided by the witness and other evidence;
• the conclusion drawn by the trier of fact from the information
presented in Court as to what actually happened; and
• the legal concepts, facts in issue, that must be established if a
particular party to legal proceedings is to succeed.”

Section 3 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872

According to Section 3 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872,
“Fact” means and includes:
1. anything, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being
perceived by the senses;
2. any mental condition of which any person is conscious.
Illustrations
(a) That there are certain objects arranged in a certain order in a certain
place, is a fact.
(b) That a man heard or saw something, is a fact.
(c) That a man said certain words, is a fact.
(d) That a man holds a certain opinion, has a certain intention, acts in good
faith or fraudulently, or uses a particular word in a particular sense, or is or
was at a specified time conscious of a particular sensation, is a fact.
(e) That a man has a certain reputation, is a fact.
Classification of Facts:
Depending Upon Perception:
Depending upon whether the fact is perceived by senses or not, facts are
classified into two types a) physical facts and b) psychological facts
Physical facts:
Clause (1) of Section 3 refers to the things which are subject
to perception by bodily senses (vision, touch, taste, hearing, Smell). Such
things which are subjected to the perception of bodily senses are called
physical facts. They are also called external facts because they are present
outside the body and perceived by senses (refer to illustrations (a), (b), and
(c)). These facts can be felt by other persons easily.
Physical facts include both animate and inanimate objects because both of
them has a common characteristics that they possess physical bodies.
• Human body dead or alive is a physical fact
• A drunken driver is a physical fact
Psychological Facts:
Clause (2) of Section 3 refers to those facts, which cannot be perceived by
senses and are ‘Psychological Facts’ (refer to illustrations (d) and (e)). They
are also known as external facts. Psychological facts are not subject
to perception by bodily senses (vision, touch, taste, hearing, Smell) are
called psychological facts. These facts have seat in animate being. Opinion,
intention, good faith, fear, ill-will, anger, hatred, knowledge, betrayal, etc.
comes under psychological facts. Psychological facts can only be felt by the
person who is entertaining those feelings and not by others unless those
internal feelings are manifested through expressions and actions by that
person.
• Intention to kill a person
• Hatching a conspiracy
• A fraudulently sold his car to B.
• A has a bad opinion about B.
Distinguishing Between Physical Facts and Psychological Facts:
Physical Facts Psychological Facts

Clause (1) of Section 3 refers to

Clause (2) of Section 3 refers to
the things which are subject
those facts, which cannot be
to perception by bodily senses
perceived by senses and are
(vision, touch, taste, hearing,
‘Psychological Facts’
Smell) are called physical facts.

They are also called external They are also called Internal facts
facts because they are present because they are present inside
outside the body. the body in the mind of a person.

They can only be felt by the

These facts can be felt by other
persons easily.
person who is entertaining those
feelings and not by others unless
those internal feelings are
manifested through expressions
and actions by that person.

Examples: a man heard or saw Examples: a man holds a certain

something, a man said certain opinion, a man has a certain
words, etc. reputation, etc.

Depending Upon Existence:

Depending upon the Existence of the Facts they are classified into two types
a) positive facts and b) negative facts
Positive Fact:
Presence or existence of fact is a positive fact. They are affirmative and
present. For example, A killed B. There are blood strains on the ground and
a deep wound on the abdomen of B with blood oozing out. There is a knife
in hand of A. All these facts are in existence, hence they can be called
positive facts. It is easier to prove positive facts.
Negative Fact:
The absence or non-existence of a fact is called a negative fact. They are not
present. Examples: nothing is heard about A for the last 5 years, Nobody
has seen both A and B together for the last month. No weapon is found near
the murder site, etc. They are not easy to prove.
Depending on Sequence Of Inference:
Facts can also be classified as a) primary fact and b) secondary fact
Primary fact is the fact, which is collected directly and specifically. There
are second, third, fourth, etc. level of facts those can be inferred from
immediately preceding primary facts and can be used as credible
circumstantial evidence. Ho Hock Lai in his book ‘A philosophy of Evidence
Law: Justice in Search of Truth’, published by Oxford Edition Press, 2008
Edition, says that “More generally, proposition of fact come at different
levels of formulation or abstraction and differentiation is more fine-grained
than is suggested by the simple two-fold classification. The proposition that
the husband put arsenic in his wife’s coffee is basic relative to the
proposition that the husband caused the wife’s death, which is turn is more
basic than the proposition that the husband murdered his wife.”
Future Facts:
Facts which are merely likely to occur and have not already occurred are
not facts within the meaning of Section 3 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
In Dueful Laboratory v. State, 1998 Cr LJ 4534 (Raj) case, the Court
held that events which have neither occurred in the past nor in the present
but are likely to occur in the future does not fall within the ambit of the
definition of “Fact” under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
In Uday v. State of Karnataka 2003 (4) SCC 46 case, the question
was whether sexual intercourse, consent to which was given on a false
promise of marriage, is rape or not. The Supreme Court on a re-
appreciation of evidence found that neither was the prosecutrix a minor at
the relevant time nor did the appellant have sexual intercourse with the
prosecutrix “against her will”. The charge of rape was then sought to be
pressed against the appellant on the ground that he had obtained consent
to sexual intercourse by making a false promise of marriage and such a
consent, covered by the expression “misconception of fact”, is vitiated by
Section 90. The Supreme Court, accepting this contention, ruled that a false
promise of marriage is covered by the expression “misconception of fact”
and a consent thus obtained is vitiated by Section 90; accordingly, it was
held that sexual intercourse, consent to which is obtained by making a false
promise of marriage, is rape within the meaning of Section 375 of I.PC.
However, in the instant fact situation, the SC found it to be a case of breach
of promise and not false promise and acquitted the appellant of the charge
of rape under Section 376 of the I.P.C. The Supreme Court observed: “.. the
consent given by the prosecutrix to sexual intercourse with a person with
whom she is deeply in love on a promise that he would marry her on a later
date, cannot be said to be given under a misconception of the fact. A false
promise is not a fact within the meaning of the Code.”

Relevant Fact
The relevant facts are different from the facts at issue. These are facts that
are not in dispute/issue, but they are related to facts that are in
dispute/issue. But the connection must be real or logical. In other words,
not all connections make the facts meaningful. To be relevant, the facts in
question must be logically connected to the facts at issue. Events that are
the cause or result of disputed “facts in issue” will be considered “relevant
facts”.
For example, A is accused of B’s murder, and A denies any such act. C saw
A with B on the day of the murder. Here, the question of whether A had
committed murder or not is a “fact in issue” and the fact that C saw A on
the day of murder with B will be the “relevant fact”, i.e., a fact connected to
the fact in issue which either helps to prove or disprove
Difference:

Facts at Issue Relevant facts

A relevant fact is which helps to

1) A fact in issue is the ultimate
prove/disprove the facts at issue, i.e.,
facts in dispute, i.e., “principal
“evidentiary fact” or “Factum
facts” or “factum probandum”.
probandi”.
 2) Facts at issue are significant
Relevant facts are non-significant.
in nature

3) The facts at issue are the

They are part of the law of evidence.
basis of the “law of evidence”.

4) These are confirmed by one

The relevant facts are the foundation
party but denied by the other
of the inferences made.
party.

The relevance of the facts is provided in chapter 2 of the IEA and a fact is
presumed to be relevant to another when it is relevant under the provisions
of Articles 6 to 55 of the Evidence Act. Facts can be logically or
legally relevant. It is commonly said that “Every legally relevant fact
is also logically relevant, but every logically relevant fact is not
necessarily legally relevant or admissible”.