Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus is a Latin maxim meaning false in one thing, false in everything. At common law it names the evidentiary principle that if a witness is shown to have testified falsely about one matter, a fact-finder may treat that witness as not credible on every other matter they testified to as well, in effect discounting the whole of their testimony because of one demonstrated falsehood. The maxim functions as a permissive instruction to juries rather than an automatic rule of exclusion. Many common law jurisdictions have moved away from applying it in a strict, categorical way, treating a witness's credibility as a question to be weighed matter by matter instead, but the doctrine still survives and is applied in some courts in the United States.
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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.
In Legal System
Source Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus
the legal principle that a witness who falsely testifies about one matter is not credible to testify about any matterView the Source Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (Wikipedia)
In Legal System: Common Law, IntroductionQuote, In Legal System: Common Law, Introduction
At common law, it is the legal principle that a witness who falsely testifies about one matter is not credible to testify about any matter.
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