circumstantial evidence
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 271 U.S. 472 - Chicago St Ry Co v. Coogan · 1926Most cited · 504 citing opinions
Whenever circumstantial evidence is relied on to prove a fact, the circumstances must be proved and not themselves presumed.
How often courts cite the cases defining “circumstantial evidence”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “circumstantial evidence” — 560 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1864–1926
- ORIGINAL
Circumstances altogether inconclusive, if separately considered, may, by their number and joint operation, especially when corroborated by moral coincidences, be sufficient to constitute conclusive proof.