Moral certainty is a concept of intuitive

probability Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speakin ...

. It means a very high degree of probability, sufficient for action, but short of absolute or mathematical certainty.

Origins

The notion of different degrees of certainty can be traced back to a statement in

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's Nicomachean Ethics that one must be content with the kind of certainty appropriate to different subject matters, so that in practical decisions one cannot expect the certainty of mathematics. The Latin phrase ''moralis certitudo'' was first used by the French philosopher

Jean Gerson Jean Charlier de Gerson (13 December 1363 – 12 July 1429) was a French scholar, educator, reformer, and poet, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a guiding light of the conciliar movement and one of the most prominent theologians at the Co ...

about 1400, to provide a basis for moral action that could (if necessary) be ''less'' exact than Aristotelian practical knowledge, thus avoiding the dangers of

philosophical scepticism Philosophical skepticism ( UK spelling: scepticism; from Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even reject ...

and opening the way for a benevolent

casuistry In ethics, casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending theoretical rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and ju ...

. The

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

mentions occurrences in English from 1637.

Law

In law, moral (or 'virtual') certainty has been associated with

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales ...

s based on certainty

beyond a reasonable doubt Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, beca ...

. Moral certainty, a quantum of evidence of about 100 percent proof, is required in two kinds of cases: # In a criminal prosecution, when no

direct evidence Direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion (in criminal law, an assertion of guilt or of innocence) directly, i.e., without an intervening inference. A witness relates what they directly experienced, usually by sight or hearing, but also p ...

exists, the circumstantial evidence must be ''morally certain''; see ''

Lizzie Borden Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was charged in the murders, and despite ost ...

''. # In a paternity testing case, when a

putative father __NOTOC__ A putative father, with some variation in specific language, generally means a man whose legal relationship to a child has not been established but who is alleged to be or claims that he may be the biological father of a child who is born ...

has been adjudicated to be the actual father by

clear and convincing evidence In a legal dispute, one party has the burden of proof to show that they are correct, while the other party had no such burden and is presumed to be correct. The burden of proof requires a party to produce evidence to establish the truth of facts ...

, then ''moral certainty'' is required to disprove

paternity Paternity may refer to: *Father, the male parent of a (human) child *Paternity (law), fatherhood as a matter of law * ''Paternity'' (film), a 1981 comedy film starring Burt Reynolds * "Paternity" (''House''), a 2004 episode of the television seri ...

, the

onus Onus, from Latin, indicates accountability/responsibility Onus may also refer to: * Blame * Burden (disambiguation) * Legal burden of proof (''onus probandi'') As a surname * Bill Onus (1906-68), Australian Aboriginal political activist, boom ...

being moved to the newly found father. Legal debate about instructions to seek a moral certainty has turned on the changing definitions of the phrase over time. Whereas it ''can'' be understood as an equivalent to 'beyond reasonable doubt', in another sense moral certainty refers to a firm conviction which ''does not'' correlate but rather opposes evidentiary certainty:R. L. Moore, ''Mass Communication Law and Ethics'' (1999) pp. 52–3. i.e. one may have a firm subjective gut feeling of guilt – a feeling of moral certainty – without the evidence necessarily justifying a guilty conviction.

References

External links

Legal definition of "moral certainty""And the moral of the story is..."
on the dangers of moral certainty. ''

Ideas In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. ...

'', CBC Radio 1. February 17, 2010. Legal doctrines and principles Sociology of law Skepticism American legal terminology Criminal law Criminal procedure Legal reasoning {{law-stub

Origins

Law

See also

References

Further reading

External links