Prima facie 壹詞來自於拉丁語，（這種表達方式出現於中世紀的英語中）。它被用於在普通法的司法管轄下，去提出足以證明壹個特別的主張成立或者事實存在的證據，意思是“表面的”或者是“初步的”，否則將被駁回。在大多數的訴訟程序中，壹方當事人有這樣的證明責任，這方當事人基於關有於這個案子的所有必要事實中提交初步證據。如果這個當事人沒能提交任何有關於這個案子所需要件的初步證據，則即使對方當時文人沒有做出任何反應的情況下，他的主張也能會被駁回。壹份初步證據可能不足以讓壹個當事人在對方當事人提出相反的證據或者壹份肯定性的答辯中占據上風。有時，提交初步證據被非正式的稱作造個案子。
For example, in a criminal prosecution, the Government has the burden of presenting prima facie evidence of each element of the crime charged. In a murder case, this would include evidence that the defendant's act caused the victim's death, and evidence that the defendant acted with malice aforethought. If the prosecution were to fail to introduce such evidence, then its case would fail on grounds of "failure to make out a prima facie case," even without rebuttal by the defendant. This evidence need not be conclusive or irrefutable, and evidence rebutting the case may not be considered.
例如，在壹單刑事訴訟中，政府有責任提交關於被起訴犯罪案件的每壹構成要件的初步證據。 在壹樁謀殺案中，就要提交證據證明被害者的死亡是由於被告的行為所引起的，證明被告的行為是惡意預謀的。如果公訴方沒能提交這樣的證據，那麽這個案子很可能雖然沒有被告的反駁，但基於沒有清楚的初步證據就失敗了。這樣的初步證據不需要是確鑿無疑或者不可反駁的，並且案件中的反駁證據可能不會被考慮。
Prima facie is often confused with res ipsa loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself"), the common law legal doctrine which in its modern incarnation allows a tort plaintiff to reach the jury on the question of a defendant's negligence, despite the plaintiff's failure to produce any evidence explaining exactly how the defendant was negligent, by establishing circumstantial evidence from which unspecified negligence by the defendant can fairly be inferred.
Prima facie經常被與res(標地物)Ipsa(證明)loquitur(主張)（事情證明其本身）這個法律術語相混淆。後者作為普通法中的壹個法律原則，在現代的翻版就是允許壹個侵權案件中的原告就被告的過失出現在陪審團的面前。盡管原告不能提供任何可以準確地說明被告人是怎樣的過失的，但是通過建立起來的情境證據，被告不是很確定的過失就會被很好地推論出來了。
The phrase prima facie is sometimes misspelled *prima facia in the mistaken belief that *facia is the actual Latin word; however, the word is in fact faciēs (fifth declension), of which faciē is the ablative.
短語prima facie有時會因為人們誤以為*facia是壹個真正的拉丁語詞匯而被錯拼為*prima facia。然而，事實上這個詞是faciēs（第五種詞尾變化），在這些詞尾變化中，faciē i是奪格。
The phrase is very commonly used, in exactly the same sense, in academic philosophy as well. Among the most notable uses of it in that discipline is the theory of ethics first proposed by W. D. Ross, often called the Ethic of Prima Facie Duties.
這個詞組在準確的相同意義上,同樣被非常普遍地被學院派哲學所采用。在學院派哲學這個學科中最引人註目的對prima facie的應用的就是由W. D. Ross（羅斯）提出的倫理學理論，經常給稱作倫理初步責任（初向責任，初定義務）理論。
呵呵， 我這可不止值80分阿，要追加給我分數阿！還有，妳自己也得好好學習啊。推薦妳本詞典《元照英美法詞典》。