Where did the expression “The burden of proof is on you” originate?*
[sub]*(I was just wondering, because for example, assume there was a person who had an idea and a design for a spaceship long before the first spaceship was ever constructed. That person might know for sure that his design would work if it ever went from the design phase to the practical phase. Yet people might scoffingly tell him “the burden of proof is on you, to prove that a spaceship can really reach the moon.” But he can’t prove it because he lacks the resources and manpower. In such an instance it isn’t logical to me to insist that the “burden of proof is on him”)[/sub]
Because of the well known principle: You can’t prove a negative. A person says “spaceships can’t be built”. That statement cannot be proven, only disproven. Therefore the burden of proof falls to the individual stating “spaceships can be built”. Pretty simple, eh?
Why do I think this will not end here?
I don’t believe it came from anywhere, except brains of people who understand English. I mean, this isn’t exactly some obscure phrase or anything. Makes perfect sense.
Flashing back to that Blackadder quote: “This is something different. It’s spontaneous. It’s called wit.”
“Burden of proof” is a legal phrase, probably borrowed from English civil law.
It is absolutely logical to say the burden of proof is on the person making the claim. Anytime someone proposes something that it is not generally accepted, it is the claimant’s responsibility to demonstrate it. This isn’t some scientific rule, it is just the way human interaction works. How could one live their life if one believed everything everyone said until it could be personally disproven? It is so easy to make a claim, and so difficult to disprove it. We would become a completely credulous society.