ABSTRACT

If one party admits the existence of a fact on which the other proposes to rely, he will do so because his legal advisers see that the fact is not in contention, and that it would be pointless and time wasting to insist that it be proved by evidence. Formal admissions, however, must be distinguished from informal admissions. The latter are frequently referred to simply as ‘admissions’ (or, in criminal cases, as ‘confessions’) and the facts to which they refer require proof like any other item of evidence. The reason for this is the difference between formal and informal admissions. A formal admission is made deliberately, for the purpose of the proceedings, and is binding on the party who makes it (unless he is allowed to withdraw it). An informal admission is not deliberately made for the purpose of the proceedings. Even if proved, it is not binding on the maker, who is entitled to explain it away if he can. There is quite likely, also, to be a dispute about whether an informal admission was made at all, or about its terms, or about the sense in which it should be understood. Formal admissions, which are recorded, are far less likely to give rise to these problems. Of course, the fact that someone has said something contrary to his interest will generally increase the probability that what he said was true. For example, in an action for negligence based on a road traffic accident the claimant might adduce evidence that immediately after the accident the defendant said to him, ‘I’m terribly sorry; that was entirely my fault. I was distracted by my children in the back of the car’. That clearly constitutes an admission of liability, but unless (as is extremely unlikely) it is formally admitted by the defendant, the claimant will have to prove by evidence that it was the defendant who was solely responsible for the collision. The fact that an admission was made can, of course, be used to prove this. Similarly, in a criminal case, a defendant who was charged with murder might say during an interview with the police, ‘All right; I admit I used the dead man’s credit card’. That would almost certainly be a confession within the meaning of s 82(1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. But unless the defence formally admitted that the defendant did use the dead

man’s card, that fact would need to be proved by evidence at trial. How, then, are formal admissions made?