Burden of Proof

All of the standards of proof that I will talk about are only meaningful if you have the burden of proof; that is, you have to satisfy the standard in order to win the case. If you are a plaintiff (if you are suing someone), or if you are a prosecutor in a criminal case, you have the burden of proving your case. If you are a defendant (criminal or civil), you don't. You can just sit back and do nothing if you want, if you're sure the plaintiff/State can't prove their case. Of course, if you want to you can provide evidence for yourself to make their job harder.