Cite as: 511 U. S. 1 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
testimonies, contrary experiences must be balanced." Id., at 518-519.
A leading 19th century treatise observed that "[m]atters of fact are proved by moral evidence alone; . . . [i]n the ordinary affairs of life, we do not require demonstrative evidence, . . . and to insist upon it would be unreasonable and absurd." 1 S. Greenleaf, Law of Evidence 3-4 (13th ed. 1876).
The phrase "moral certainty" shares an epistemological
pedigree with moral evidence. See generally Shapiro, "To A Moral Certainty": Theories of Knowledge and Anglo-American Juries 1600-1850, 38 Hastings L. J. 153 (1986). Moral certainty was the highest degree of certitude based on such evidence. In his 1790 lecture, James Wilson observed:
"In a series of moral evidence, the inference drawn in the several steps is not necessary; nor is it impossible that the premises should be true, while the conclusion drawn from them is false.
". . . In moral evidence, we rise, by an insensible gradation, from possibility to probability, and from probability to the highest degree of moral certainty." 1 Works of James Wilson, supra, at 519.
At least one early treatise explicitly equated moral certainty with proof beyond a reasonable doubt:
"Evidence which satisfies the minds of the jury of the truth of the fact in dispute, to the entire exclusion of every reasonable doubt, constitutes full proof of the fact. . . .
"Even the most direct evidence can produce nothing more than such a high degree of probability as amounts to moral certainty. From the highest degree it may decline, by an infinite number of gradations, until it produce in the mind nothing more than a mere preponderance of assent in favour of the particular fact." T. Starkie, Law of Evidence 478 (2d ed. 1833).
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