The onus of proof is on the person making an existential claim
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Towards more picturesque speech™
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A principal of sound argument that posits that one need not prove a negative. Because it’s impossible to prove a negative. It’s hard enough to prove a positive (the best you can do is point to an absence of contradictory evidence).
The principle is evidenced as well as anywhere by Mike and Vyvyan:
In The Young Ones,[1] just before The Damned kicked off a boisterous rendition of their punk classic Nasty, Mike and Vyvyan agonised over their failure to get their new video recorder working. It is a parable for today’s uncertain times.
- Mike: Maybe you shouldn’t have poured all of that washing-up liquid into it.
- Vyvyan: It says here, “ensure machine is clean and free from dust”.
- Mike: Yeah, but it don’t say “ensure machine is full of washing-up liquid”.
- Vyvyan: Well, it doesn’t say “ensure machine isn’t full of washing-up liquid”.
- Mike: Well, it wouldn’t would it? I mean, it doesn’t say “ensure you don’t chop up your video machine with an axe, put all the bits in a plastic bag and bung them down the lavatory.”
- Vyvyan: Doesn’t it? Well maybe that’s where we’re going wrong.
It flows into legal draftery, although you would not know it from the timidity with which many modern commercial lawyers festoon their contracts. You don’t need to say what you don’t have to do in a contract. Not even for the avoidance of doubt.