Section 2.11 Public Policy Considerations

• Library: Sources of Proof (2014 Ed.)

B. (§2.11) Public Policy Considerations

As to the second rationale, other reasons for presumptions go beyond simple notions of evidentiary fairness in a particular lawsuit. There may be reasons of broad public policy underlying a presumption in a given case. 2 MCCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 343, p. 687 (Kenneth S. Broun ed., 7^th ed., 2013). The presumption of legitimacy, discussed in §2.8 above, is founded on social policy—specifically, society’s interest in preserving familial stability and avoiding the visitation on the child of social stigma—and on probability. For another example, consider the presumption of death from absence. Id. at § 343, p. 686. At common law, the existence of the basic fact—absence for seven years—compelled an inference that the absent person was dead. Ferril v. Kansas City Life Ins. Co., 137 S.W.2d 577 (Mo. 1939). More recently, the Missouri General Assembly has codified this presumption but has changed the operative time period to five years, rather than seven. Section 472.290(3), RSMo 2000.

The...