Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

conclusive presumption

A presumption that cannot be overcome by any additional evidence or argument <it is a conclusive presumption that a child under the age of seven is incapable of committing a felony>. - Also termed absolute presumption; irrebuttable presumption; mandatory presumption; presumption juris et de jure. Cf. rebuttable presumption. "'Conclusive presumptions' or 'irrebuttable presumptions' are usually mere fictions, to disguise a rule of substantive law (e.g., the conclusive presumption of malice from an unexcused defamation); and when they are not fictions, they are usually repudiated by modern courts." John H. Wigmore, A Students' Textbook of the Law of Evidence 454 (1935). "Conclusive presumptions, sometimes called irrebuttable presumptions of law, are really rules of law. Thus it is said that a child under the age of fourteen years is conclusively presumed to be incapable of committing rape. This is only another way of saying that such a child cannot be found guilty of rape." Richard Eggleston, Evidence, Proof and Probability 92 (1978).