Complete 10 page APA formatted essay: Two Standards of Proof in English Law.A very significant case is the idea primarily proposed by Lord Denning over 30 years ago in Bater v. Bater, [1951] P. 35, in

Complete 10 page APA formatted essay: Two Standards of Proof in English Law.

A very significant case is the idea primarily proposed by Lord Denning over 30 years ago in Bater v. Bater, [1951] P. 35, in that “the civil standard of proof is flexible and in each case depends upon the gravity of the issues and/or consequences of the decision.” Bater v. Bater is a case about a wife who has petitioned for divorce and also alleged in its petition, cruelty.3 Lord Denning in this case explained that although a higher standard is required in criminal cases than in civil cases, this however “is subject to the qualification that there is no absolute standard in either case.”4 He added that, “in criminal cases the charge must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, but there may be degrees of proof within that standard.”5 He further explained that although in civil cases preponderance of probability is used, there may however be “degrees of probability within that standard, which would depend on the subject-matter.”6 He explained that when the charge of fraud is considered in a civil court, this would then require “a higher degree of probability than that which it would require when asking if negligence is established.”7 Although a charge is of criminal nature, it however, does not take up such high a degree as that in criminal court.8 He explained that it still requires “a degree of probability which is commensurate with the occasion.”9 Lord Denning thus states that “a divorce court should require a degree of probability which is proportionate to the subject-matter.”10

Khawaja v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [1983] 1 All E.R. 765 at p. 783 (H.L.) espouses such an idea in Bater v. Bater.11 The “gradations in the civil standard of proof” was also applied.12&nbsp.