Moral certainty is not proof, and cases are won by locating witnesses.

Evidence

Schlichtmann felt certain that Riley had dumped tannery waste and drums containing perc and TCE on the fifteen acres, just as the Grace employees had dumped solvents behind their plant. He felt certain that Riley had records of chemicals used by the tannery. But he had no proof of that. This deposition reminded him of the first time he’d deposed Barbas and Shalline. He’d gotten nothing from them either, but he had persisted and then he’d gotten lucky. He needed the same sort of luck with Beatrice. He needed to find another Al Love. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 1018

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the Milgrom law-merchant point: information costs, not the absence of wrongdoing, decide disputes. — connects to: Ordeals worked only because defendants believed in an omniscient moral watcher — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 64; Expert witnesses can undermine their credibility through selective memory during trials. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1679; Moral witness acts require risking institutional retribution (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Sympathetic testimony can win a case regardless of legal merit. #expands (1.00) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 761
• Some trials turn entirely on disputed facts rather than law. #qualifies (0.89) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 797
• Expert witnesses can undermine their credibility through selective memory during trials. #complicates (0.87) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1679
• Two honest witnesses can report opposite truths about the same event #complicates (0.87) — , A Year of World Stories, 14793
• Cross-examination can make true testimony appear false to a jury. #complicates (0.84) — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 2067
• Ordeals worked only because defendants believed in an omniscient moral watcher #complicates (0.79) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 64
• Moral witness acts require risking institutional retribution #complicates (0.71)