§ 5.06 CONFLICTING PRESUMPTIONS

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 5.06. CONFLICTING PRESUMPTIONS

On occasion, two presumptions may conflict. Under a pure Thayerian view, both presumptions would disappear if rebutted, and the evidence would be considered for its worth by the jury; often the basic fact would be circumstantial proof of the presumed fact. Another approach would look to the underlying rationale for the two presumptions, and the presumption with the stronger policy basis would trump the other. The Uniform Rules (1999) take this position.³⁶

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Notes:

^[36] Unif. R. Evid. 301(b) (rev. 1999) ("If presumptions are inconsistent, the presumption...