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2025 Syllabus Based Evidence Reviewer: Factum Probans vs. Factum Probandum

 

There are two kinds of fact under the law on pleadings: FACTUM PROBANDUM AND FACTUM PROBANS. (Rule 128)

 

FACTUM PROBANDUM

Ultimate facts are the principal, determinate and constitutive facts upon the existence of which the plaintiff’s cause of action rests.


They do not refer to the details of probative matters or particulars of evidence by which these material elements are to be established. Under the law on pleadings, only ultimate facts are required to be stated. They consist in propositions still to be established and therefore, ultimate facts are necessarily hypothetical.

To put it simply, your ultimate facts in a civil case would be
1. the rights violated,
2. the obligation of the defendant,
3. how the defendant violated the rights of the plaintiff

FACTUM PROBANS

Evidentiary or intermediate facts, on the other hand, ar facts which are necessary for the determination of the ultimate facts. They are premises upon which conclusions of ultimate facts are based. They are brought forward as a reality to convince the tribunal that the factum probandum is also real.


Under the law on pleadings, only ultimate facts are to be required to be stated. They consist in propositions still to be established. Therefore, ultimate facts are necessarily hypothetical.

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