Civil Litigation-Direct and Circumstantial Evidence
Evidence, in general terms, can fall into two broad categories. There is direct evidence and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence consists of witnesses testifying to things within their personal knowledge or may consist of documents, pictures, or other things that directly prove a particular thing. For instance, a person testifying that “I saw the wolf attack the chicken coop” would be direct evidence.
Circumstantial evidence may be thought of as indirect evidence, or evidence that leads to a particular conclusion although there is no direct testimony, document, or thing that proves that event. Going back to the example of the wolf attacking the chicken coop—if no one actually saw the attack happen, but you see the wolf’s footprints around the chicken coop and the dead chickens, then you may conclude that the wolf is the one who killed the chickens, even though no one actually saw it happen.
