morgan presumption
Morgan presumption. A presumption that shifts the burden of proof by requiring the person against whom it operates to produce sufficient evidence to outweigh the evidence that supports the presumed fact, as in requiring a criminal defendant who was arrested while in possession of an illegal substance — and is thereby presumed to have knowingly possessed it — to produce sufficient evidence to entitle the jury to find that the defendant’s evidence outweighs the evidence of knowing possession. See Edmund M. Morgan, Instructing the Jury Upon Presumptions and Burdens of Proof, 47 Harv. L. Rev. 59, 82–83 (1933). Cf. THAYER PRESUMPTION. [Cases: Controlled Substances 68; Criminal Law 324; Evidence 85. C.J.S. Criminal Law § 695; Evidence § 135.]
