Origin Latin legal expression (prima facie, from Latin prima facie), used in modern legal English
Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning at first face, rendered in modern English as on the face of it or based on first impression. In legal use it signifies that, on initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a case, and in common law jurisdictions prima facie evidence is proof that, unless rebutted, would be enough to establish a given proposition or fact. Most legal proceedings across jurisdictions require a prima facie case to be established before they can move forward to test the evidence and reach a ruling, and the term also has a use in academic philosophy alongside its primary legal meaning. A related Latin phrase, ex facie, meaning on the face of it, is instead used to indicate that a document's own explicit provisions contain a defect requiring further investigation. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Origin PeriodLatin legal expression (prima facie, from Latin prima facie), used in modern legal English 2 Core PrincipleOn initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a case 2 Classification
Doctrine Category Connections
In Area Of Law
Entity-backed identity for the doctrine category value this doctrine already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a doctrine entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Long-Form Articles
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Prima facie
upon initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a caseView the Source 2. Prima facie (Wikipedia)
Introduction, etymology
from Latin prīmā faciē
Introduction, legal usage
to signify that upon initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a case.
View the SourceFrequently Asked Questions
What does prima facie mean in a legal case?
On first look, there is enough evidence to support the case.
Prima facie is Latin for at first face, rendered in modern English as on the face of it or based on first impression. In legal use it signifies that upon initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a case.
Does a prima facie case mean the party has won?
No, it only means the evidence looks sufficient at first examination.
No. It means only that on initial examination the evidence appears sufficient to support the case. It is a first-impression threshold, not a final finding, and the matter can still be answered and decided against the party who met it.
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