Literacy Law - The principle of evidence in civil procedural law is to reveal formal truth. In reality, documentary evidence is the primary means of evidence. It is interesting to observe the position or legal force of an affidavit when used as evidence in civil proceedings.

Evidence in Civil Procedural Law

In civil proceedings in the District Court, evidence is a crucial and important agenda item. The litigating parties must make the most of it to convince the Panel of Judges. The Plaintiff will try as hard as possible to prove their arguments, while the Defendant will try as hard as possible to refute them.

In the evidence agenda, each party will present evidence to the Panel of Judges. From the evidence presented, the Panel of Judges will know with certainty and clarity the truth and the actual facts. However, it must be remembered that the evidence submitted must comply with the applicable legal requirements.

Civil Procedural Law in Indonesia generally refers to Herzien Inlandsch Reglement (HIR), Rechtreglement voor de Buitengewesten (RBg), and Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW). In addition, it can also refer to regulations and Circular Letters issued or published by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia in the form of Supreme Court Regulations (Perma) and Supreme Court Circular Letters (SEMA). Indonesia itself does not yet have its national Civil Procedure Law, so the presence of Perma and SEMA is expected to be a temporary solution to various matters whose provisions have not been regulated in HIR, RBg, or BW.

HIR has exhaustively regulated the evidence that can be presented in the evidence agenda. Article 164 of HIR as quoted by Retnowulan Sutantio and Iskandar Oeripkartawinata in the book Law Civil Procedure in Theory and Practice mentions 5 types of evidence that can be presented in a civil case: documentary evidence, witnesses, presumptions, confessions, and oaths.

Documentary evidence is the most important evidence. Quoting the opinion of Sudikno Mertokusumo, a letter is anything that includes punctuation and contains the intention to express feelings or convey thoughts from someone. The letter itself can also be in the form of an authentic deed made before an authorized official in accordance with the provisions of applicable laws and regulations and a private deed.

A witness, broadly speaking, is oral testimony from a third party who is not a party to the case. Witness testimony is like information for the panel of judges to help understand the case being tried.