In criminal and civil proceedings, the law of evidence has many purposes.

However, due to
the different nature of civil and criminal cases, the rules applicable to them may be different.
The civil case is one established by the individual to seek redress for wrongdoing, which has
been done against him, and if he succeeds he will be given money or other personal relief. At
the same time, a penalty case is being pursued by the government to safeguard its compliance
with its laws by punishing or amending the law. Therefore, since the scope of relief and the
establishment of civil and criminal cases are different, it seems appropriate to have a strict
ness-related distinction of clear rules applicable to both cases.

Generally, the purpose of the express rule is to assist the court in establishing the truth
between the parties' conflicting versions of the case. However, the law of evidence in
criminal cases has a more important purpose, namely, the protection afforded to the accused
concerning his right to a fair trial. The defense of the accused against the case, impartial to
his right to a distant trade, is one of the main reasons why the Law of Criminal Evidence
contains many provisions, excluding the relevant evidence to be presented before the court.
For example, the general rule that the defendant's misconduct or the evidence of his previous
allegations are not admissible at trial, such as the various privileges granted to witnesses, etc.
The court may exercise its discretionary power to uphold the defendant's right to a fair trial.

When in civil proceedings, relevant and probable evidence is generally admissible for a fact
to be proved to the court. There are no mandatory provisions to exclude testimony in civil
cases. This issue reflects the main difference between civil and criminal proceedings.
Therefore, we can say that fair trial arrangement is not important in a civil case because there
is greater equality in the resources between the parties rather than criminal proceedings, on
the one hand, there is a whole government of power and weak criminals on the other.
Moreover, if a civil case is lost, the claimant or defendant will suffer serious damages to his
financial resources or property, he will not lose his free life or suffer the same social stigma
of a person convicted of a criminal offense. This is one of the reasons for the huge difference
in the level of coercion required in civil and criminal cases.

burden of proof in criminal and civil proceedings

The general rule in criminal cases is that the State imposes the burden of proving the
defendant's guilt and defines the substantive law as to what the prosecution must prove in
order to convict the defendant. It usually contains elements of mens rea and actus reas, for
example, when pursuing a penalty for theft, the state must prove all elements of the offense
classified by the criminal code.
Although the rules of civil testimony do not incorporate the same engaging principles in
criminal litigation, the "well-established public rule on the legal burden of proof" in civil
proceedings must be "asserted by the plaintiff." The legal burden of proving a fact at trial is
on the affirming party, so in civil litigation, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, however, if
the defendant admits the allegations and makes a positive error such as a "counter-claim", the
burden of proof shifts to the defendant. The burden always lies on the defendant.

In civil proceedings, if a party formally acknowledges the facts of a case, it ceases to be in

dispute between the particles of the facts, and any evidence that proves the truth is irrelevant
to the adjudication. In other words, judicial admissions in civil cases are final. Courts are
obliged to make rulings based on such consent without producing additional evidence.
Judicial admission in criminal cases is not final. Of course, when the perpetrator confesses
every element of the alleged offense without reservation, the court may enter the guilty plea
and immediately convict the accused. However, the court may demand that such evidence be
prosecuted because it deems it necessary and the perpetrator may be allowed to call the
witnesses. Unlike civil cases, the task of determining the determinants of judicial admission
in criminal cases is left to the discretion of the court.

judicial admissions are not conclusive in criminal cases

In criminal cases, the issue may be the question of life and death. So the court shall take a due
care that an innocent person not to be convicted and punished. So that, the courts are
expected to critically examine the reasons behind of the confession. Because sometimes
innocent person may admit the commission of crime to cover another person, for fame or to
be known throughout the world by his criminal act.

in criminal cases, admission shall be made without reservation. When we say the accused
admitted, we are saying that he admitted each and every criminal elements of the alleged
offence usually comprise elements of the mens rea and actus reus . However, in civil
proceedings the party may admit the truth of the whole or any part of the case of the other
party. For instance, the plaintiff has instituted suit against the defendant on breach of contract
for the value of 10,000 birr. Here, the defendant may admit half of the plaintiffs claim and
deny the rest.

Classification of Evidence

Evidence of whether or not controversial facts exist can lead directly or indirectly to the
required conclusion. Thus, the evidence is divided into two: direct and circumstantial.
If believed, direct evidence directly establishes a fact at issue. The fact at issue is that one
party accuses the other, that the other party denies that this is a controversial fact, which can
only be resolved with the help of evidence.

Direct evidence is provided by witnesses giving oral testimony of something they felt was
their own. It is also provided with the documents, photographs & the like that the judge needs
to interpret with his or her intelligence, and the testimony box includes the witness's physical
presence, assessing by the judge of the witness's credibility. This includes admission to an
indictment by a party in the case.

However, circumstantial evidence is indirect evidence that tends to establish a conclusion by

inference. It does not directly tell you or prove the existence or absence of alleged or
controversial truth. But when you put them together, they form a chain that leads to a logical
conclusion. For this reason, criminal cases structured on the basis of circumstantial evidence
are very difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

Situational evidence is needed for the judge to draw generalizations from commonly held
assumptions about human nature. For example, in a murder case, the evidence that a
defendant lied to the police about the time involved and the violent dispute with the victim a
few days before the murder would be the relevant circumstantial evidence for the accused's
guilt. This assumption is based on the general assumption that murderers usually have a
motive for murder and generally cover their tracks by lying.

Can a wrong inference be made from circumstances?

Since most crimes are executed in a very sophisticated manner, direct evidence is difficult to
obtain. In that case, we have the option of proving the controversial fact by circumstantial
evidence. However, such scenarios are likely to make false assumptions. For example, in a
murder case, if you only consider footprints, it could be someone's footsteps from the victim's
home. And that does not mean that anyone buying a piston or knife has the intention of
killing a person.

Therefore, circumstances must be taken as a whole and not isolated from one another. Where
facts merge, they lead to a certain logical conclusion. The circumstances should not be self-
contradictory, which is consistent with the innocence of the accused, while others are
consistent with his or her guilt. If they contradict, the ability to prove decreases with an
increase in the odds. That is why; We have said that the court should be careful when
rendering a verdict based on circumstantial evidence.