The phrase "a balance of probabilities" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used in legal contexts to refer to the standard of proof required in civil cases, indicating that something is more likely true than not.
Example: "In this case, the court found that the plaintiff had established a balance of probabilities in their favor."
Alternatives: "preponderance of evidence" or "greater weight of evidence".
The standard of proof is criminal (beyond reasonable doubt) or civil (on a balance of probabilities).
But on a balance of probabilities, this is unlikely to happen here, among all the swags and nests of tables.
"The panel found that there were no established facts that would elevate the possibility of meat contamination to an event that could have occurred on a balance of probabilities.
The police believed "on a balance of probabilities" that Happy's biological mother was in fact Rina Mziyaye, the black woman he accused of spiriting him from Johannesburg and handing him over to a black family in the township of Tweefontein.
I apply a standard of proof and if I don't think something is true on a balance of probabilities, I'm not putting it in the book, however appealing it is.
A tribunal's decision is liable to be set aside for bias if a reasonable person, who was reasonably informed of the facts and had thought the matter through in a practical manner, would conclude on a balance of probabilities that the decision maker was not impartial.
Things are rarely cut and dried; it is more a balance of probability.
The precise standards of evidence vary around the world, but the common approach is that in criminal cases prosecutors need to demonstrate "beyond reasonable doubt", whereas civil cases require only a "balance of probability".
"Even if I were applying a simple balance of probabilities test, the plea of justification would fail in both respects," he said.
On the balance of probabilities, it was probably about the weather.
Asbos are issued on a civil burden of proof ("on the balance of probabilities"), but incur a criminal penalty if breached.
