eli5: What does a “preponderance of evidence” entail for civil suits?
In: Other
The answers replying with % of doubts are wrong.
The preponderance of evidence does not mean 51%, or 50.1%, or even 50% plus a feather. It means, between two competing outcomes, which one would you choose if you were forced?
This is relevant because some jurisdictions include notions of a shifting “convincingeness” required to satisfy preponderance. See for example fraud cases: because fraud is presumed an abnormal occurrence in everyday dealings, the evidence required to satisfy a fact-finder to pick the “fraud” outcome would be different to other cases. This doesn’t change the standard, it just accounts for the satisfaction required by a fact-finder to conclude that an unusual outcome is indeed correct on the preponderance of the evidence.
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