The Truth Doesn’t Matter

Added: 2026-04-28

[00:00:00]So court cases are not necessarily won or lost on the truth. So follow me and stick around to find out why. I'm Daniel. I'm a barister. I've been a barist about 8 years now. And I hope to help people understand how the system works. So it might help you in the future if you end up in this position.

[00:00:15]So in an ordinary civil case, the judge is not just asking what is the absolute truth. The judge is looking at the documents, the witness statements, oral evidence if necessary, and anything else that is put before the court. video evidence, transcripts, you name it. And then deciding which version of event off events is more likely than not based on the pleaded case. So obviously if the case was pleaded badly or incorrectly, then the judge can't rule on what really happened if that's not what's pleaded.

[00:00:44]But that is then on the civil standard of proof, which is the balance of probabilities, just more likely than not. And that is why consistency matters so much. If one-size accounts fits the documents and the timeline and the messages and the conduct and the evidence overall, that version might win. Even if in some ultimate sense, it's not the absolute perfect truth.

[00:01:07]Because, as I said, the judge can only rule on what the judge sees. Because courts are not time machines, it cannot go back and replay events precisely as they happened. Which is why the evidence is so important. They can only decide cases on the available evidence and the case that is pleaded before them. And so if your pleadings or your evidence or anything else is bad, then of course your outcome might be bad even if your version of events feels closer to the truth. And that is simply one of the hardest things for people to understand about civil litigation. But that is how the system works. So please do follow me for