California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Chamberlain v. Ventura County Civil Service Com., 138 Cal.Rptr. 155, 69 Cal.App.3d 362 (Cal. App. 1977):
In any event, the standard of proof in the original administrative proceedings is wholly irrelevant to the standard of proof applicable to a review of such proceedings. For example, Johnstone v. City of Daly City, supra, 156 Cal.App.2d 506, 319 P.2d 756, a principal authority relied upon by petitioner for the proposition that the standard or proof 'in disciplinary administrative proceedings' requires that the charges 'be established to a reasonable certainty' based its reversal of the trial court judgment denying a writ of mandate upon the conclusion there was no 'substantial evidence to support the order of the city council,' thereby applying upon review a standard of proof even lower than that of 'preponderance of the evidence.'
A similar situation exists in regard to the review of factual determinations in criminal trials where the standard of proof in the initial proceeding is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Nonetheless, on review of such findings, the 'substantial evidence' test is applied. This longstanding rule was recently reaffirmed in People v. Kunkin, 9 Cal.3d 245, 250, 107 Cal.Rptr. 184, 187, 507 P.2d 1392, 1395, where the court said:
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