民事诉讼证据合法性要件之批判

证据必须具备合法性要件是目前诉讼法学学界、司法实务界的共识性结论,但对于合法性要件的具体内容,目前学界尚存在较大的分歧。从证据概念及证据的本源意义入手,从逻辑理论和实证分析两个视角对证据的合法性要件进行分析,可以发现合法性不能成为证据的一个特征或构成要件,而是法官在某一事实材料已经成为某一案件的证据之后,综合案件内外各种因素进行价值选择和利益衡量,进而决定是否采纳该项证据的一种证据规则。法律对证据的形式、收集证据的主体、程序和手段等加以规定,仅仅是为了巩固其真实性、关联性,或为了保护其他民事主体的合法权益,或基于其他价值考量,而对于证据本身,并不能用简单的合法或非法标准加以判断并进而肯定或否定其证据资格。否定证据的合法性要件不仅是理顺证据制度逻辑理论上的需要,也是民事诉讼中当事人举证负担加重的背景下提高其举证能力和法院全面查清案件事实的需要。

On the Legality Requirements of Evidence in Civil Action

The viewpoint that evidence must be lawful in its nature has been a consensus in the academia and the legal practice field,though what is the legality of evidence has still been a disputed issue in the academia.The paper introduces the concept of evidence with its original functions and analyzs the legality requirements of evidence logically and empirically.It is pointed out that when a fact is evidence of a certain case,the legality of the evidence,rather than being the natural or constitutive element,tends to be a rule for the judge to make value selection and interest weighing and decide the acceptance of the evidence on the basis of the integration of external and internal elements.The law regulates the form of evidence,the actor,the procedure and the approach of evidence collecting,for the purpose of confirming the truth and relevance of the evidence,protecting the lawful rights of the civil subject,and taking consideration of other values.As to the evidence itself,it shouldn’t be simply judged as lawful or unlawful to decide its eligibility positively or negatively.The legality requirements of the negative evidence would work well in straightening out theoretically the evidence system and enhancing the burden of proof when the party is overburdened in the civil action.They are also indispensable for the court to find out the truth of the case thoroughly.