Evidence and Truth: Antagonism or Only Difficulties?

On this occasion, we address the context of evidence or, more specifically, the Law of Evidence. We shall therefore be reflecting on one of the most important and, simultaneously, most complex problems in Civil Procedural Law: the duality, perhaps even the dichotomy, between evidence and truth. We thus seek to answer the following question: are there difficulties or is there a real antagonism? As we know, there are doubts about the extent evidence encapsulates the truth. Furthermore, is it necessary to ascertain the truth? Indeed, are there levels, or even dimensions, of truth? Is there a level falling within the process and another falling outside? To what extent may we distinguish between formal truth and material truth? We here aim to answer these and other questions, taking into account some of the most recent doctrinal currents and their respective contribution towards resolving these questions. In particular, this focuses on the consequences of distributing the burden of proof, verisimilitude, degrees of proof, probabilistic methods and relative plausibility.