A detrimental conclusion drawn by the fact-finder from a party’s failure to produce evidence that is within the party’s control. • Some courts allow the inference only if the party’s failure is attributable to bad faith. — Also termed adverse presumption. Cf. SPOLIATION(1).
inference (in-f[schwa]r-[schwa]nts), n. 1. A conclusion reached by considering other facts and deducing a logical consequence from them. [Cases: Evidence 54, 595. C.J.S. Evidence §§ 130, 132–133, 1300, 1341.] adverse inference. A detrimental conclusion drawn by the fact-finder from a party’s failure to produce evidence that is within the party’s control. • Some courts allow
adverse-interest rule. The principle that if a party fails to produce a witness who is within its power to produce and who should have been produced, the judge may instruct the jury to infer that the witness’s evidence is unfavorable to the party’s case. — Also termed empty-chair doctrine; adverse-inference rule. [Cases: Criminal Law 788;
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dedication, n. Property. The donation of land or creation of an easement for public use. [Cases: Dedication 1–28. C.J.S. Dedication §§ 1–12, 14–30, 56–64.] — dedicate, vb. — dedicatory, adj. common-law dedication. A dedication made without a statute, consisting in the owner’s appropriation of land, or an easement in it, for the benefit or use