NEWSLETTER-2020-metin

261 CIVIL PROCEDURE LAW Evidential Contracts in Turkish Law of Evidence* Att. Duygu Öner Introduction In the Turkish legal system, transactions exceeding a certain amount and value shall, in principle, be evidenced by deed (or con- clusive evidence). To the contrary, the principle of circumstantial evidence is recognized with respect to legal acts and transactions that are below a certain value. In such cases where the circumstantial value is recognized, the parties may prove the legal actions or transactions through any kind of evidence. In some cases, the parties to an agree- ment may agree upon which evidence may be used for proof of fact. In this respect, the agreements concluded for determining the means of evidence for a legal transaction or fact are regarded as evidential contracts. Evidential Contracts under CCP The provisions regarding evidential contracts are set forth in Article 193 of Code of Civil Procedure numbered 6100 (“CCP”). Pursuant to its first paragraph, the parties may agree to provide other types of evidence to prove the legal acts foreseen to be proven by certain evidence by law. Accordingly, the parties may also determine to provide certain evidence for the legal acts that are not obliged to be proven through certain evidence. In this context, the parties may decide to prove a legal transaction by witness evidence even though its value exceeds the amount fore- seen by law. In that case, the parties may resort to witness evidence surpassing the principle of evidence by deed, and witness statements are taken into account for the proof of the legal transaction which is, under normal circumstances, subject to the principle of evidence by deed (or other conclusive evidences). The judge freely evaluates the * Article of January, 2020