Fact.

Abstract

“It’s a fact!” is a way of ending a conversation, with the intimation that the matter imposes itself upon us, in a manner that does not leave open the possibility of challenge. The basis of the impossibility of challenge, usually unarticulated, is that a fact is an ascertained reality that simply exists, and that as such it is not open to debate (leaving aside the possible challenge to the very existence of the fact). That is very much the way in which the law represents the fact, as something with which it may be in relation, but wholly distinct in its essence. It is interesting to stop and consider the extent to which the law is wedded to this construct, before turning to consider the implications for law of the suggestion that facts are made, not born.

Keywords: Fact, law, civil law, common law