Hänger det på erfarenheten? Processuella principer som risksäkring vid bevisvärderingen

Sammanfattning: The evaluation of evidence is free. This means that the convincing force of the evidence in a court case is not determined by legal rules. The evaluation of evidence is rather an epistemological activity. The term laws of general experience is used to describe the propositions on which the evaluation of evidence is based upon. Laws of general experience expresses the probability of connection between facts, and thus form the basis for the courts when the court for example consider the probative value of a witness's observation of a person in the vicinity of a crime scene, supposedly the person suspected of crime. The laws of general experience, can be based on a more or less weak foundation. As laws of general experience are based on a limited material, it is always associated with risk when applying them on evidence. In addition, they can be more or less weak, due to lack of applicability of the case or that the reliability to the material on which experience rate based is flawed. The prepatory works set out guidelines for the evidence. In addition, methods of the evaluation of evidence have been developed in the doctrine. The guidelines contribute, along with other procedural principles, to minimize the risk of the evaluation of evidence resting on a weak foundation of knowledge. These procedural principles are, inter alia, the principle of equality of arms and the right of an adversarial procedure by an impartial tribunal, the responsibility of the court to provide grounds for the decision and the right of appeal. The purpose of this thesis, is to examine how procedural principles of this sort, work together to prevent that the evaluation of evidence rests on a weak knowledge basis.