The study released here declared that "legitimate questions can be raised about each of these reasons, and their probative force."

A document attested by the notary has indisputable probative force.

Notary certified document has unquestionable probative force.

Breyer argued that the timing of the alleged motive to fabricate should go to the probative force of the testimony, not its reliability.

Supreme Court Judge Edward J. McGoldrick ruled: "The plaintiff has failed to sustain either cause of action by proof of sufficient probative force".

Breyer thought that a post-motive consistent statement could be admitted to rebut a charge of fabrication, but that the probative force of the statement would simply be diminished.

The contrast the Chief Justice was drawing, at the very page cited, was not with material that would be deemed formally inadmissible in judicial proceedings but with material "without a basis in evidence having rational probative force."

Also, "the California procedure is not only designed to protect the defendant against unwarranted inferences which might be drawn by an uninformed jury; it is also an attempt by the State to recognize and articulate what it believes to be the natural probative force of certain facts."

An Improper Presumption Justice Souter said that before concluding that erroneous jury instructions were harmless, a court first "must ask what evidence the jury actually considered in reaching its verdict," and then must "weigh the probative force of that evidence as against the probative force of the presumption standing alone."