Any Court or Tribunal which has to make a decision on any dispute or issue or to decide any criminal matter can only rely on the evidence produced before that Court or Tribunal.
However, in our system of law the person who alleging something in Court has the burden or onus of proving the case.
It is not up to the Court to delve into all of the evidence and make its own enquiries concerning the issues.
In France, and in some other countries, the Courts and the Tribunals do have an investigating function but in New Zealand, as in most western countries, we have what is known as an adversarial approach which simply means that the person who asserts or wishes to prove something has the onus of proving that matter.
There are a few exceptions which will be mentioned below.
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