How a Case Moves Through a Court

Burden Labels

Burden-of-proof labels shown as an ordering without numeric probabilities.

Structured Visual

Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.

RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.

Burden selection pathBurden selection pathscope: US | Deliberately incomplete glance map | as of 2026-08-28Simplified structural model; jurisdictions vary; not legal advice; cite, abstain, and handoff for interpretation.Identify issueFind governing sourceName burden holderApply burden labeledge=n1->n2 label=nextedge=n2->n3 label=nextedge=n3->n4 label=nextSCC: scc3:n1; scc2:n2; scc1:n3; scc0:n4
highlighted = computed this step

Scope and honesty note

Jurisdiction: United States structural overview; as of 2026-08-28; jurisdictions vary; not legal advice. This lesson renders source and process structure, refuses interpretation, cites, abstains, and hands off.

US structural model as of 2026−08−28\text{US structural model as of }2026-08-28

See the essential structure first

The preview routes an issue to a source-backed burden label without turning legal standards into probabilities. This deliberately incomplete preview has 4 nodes; exceptions and legal consequences remain in the sourced prose below.

glance nodes=4\text{glance nodes}=4

Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.

RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.

Burden selection pathBurden selection pathscope: US | Deliberately incomplete glance map | as of 2026-08-28Simplified structural model; jurisdictions vary; not legal advice; cite, abstain, and handoff for interpretation.Identify issueFind governing sourceName burden holderApply burden labeledge=n1->n2 label=nextedge=n2->n3 label=nextedge=n3->n4 label=nextSCC: scc3:n1; scc2:n2; scc1:n3; scc0:n4

Burdens are labels

This lesson treats burden names as ordered labels in a simplified teaching model.

burden labels only\text{burden labels only}

Example ordered set

The toy set includes ordinary civil, higher civil, and criminal labels. The order is a label order, not a probability scale.

no numeric probability\text{no numeric probability}

The chart governs the labels

The chart orders labels without assigning numeric probabilities. It shows 5 labels or steps.

ordered labels=5\text{ordered labels}=5

Diagram note

The diagram is only an ordered label map. It does not measure evidence strength.

ordered labels not measurement\text{ordered labels not measurement}

Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.

RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.

Ordered burden labelsOrdered burden labelsscope: US | Simplified burden label ordering | as of 2026-08-28Simplified structural model; jurisdictions vary; not legal advice; cite, abstain, and handoff for interpretation.QuestionPreponderanceClear convincingBeyond reasonable doubtStandard labeledge=start->preponderance label=ordinary civiledge=preponderance->clear label=higher civiledge=clear->reasonable label=criminaledge=reasonable->done label=label onlySCC: scc4:start; scc3:preponderance; scc2:clear; scc1:reasonable; scc0:done

What the glance view leaves out

A burden record must distinguish production from persuasion, identify who bears it, quote the governing source, and preserve the procedural stage. Ordering names does not assign numeric probability or measure the evidence in a case.

compressed preview; source-specific detail controls\text{compressed preview; source-specific detail controls}

Narrow summary

Keep burden names as labels unless a stated rule gives a separate evidentiary model.

labels stay labels\text{labels stay labels}