The aim of this paper is to point out the positive and negative aspects of the system of free and the system of related (legal) evaluation of evidence. In order to achieve the purpose, the paper presents a historical cross-section from which the development of these two systems is clearly visible. The system of free evaluation of evidence enabled the judge to determine the value of the evidence used in the proceedings on the basis of free evaluation. With these broad powers, judges were subject to corruption and subjectivization of judgment. Its application was characteristic of the age of the legislative procedure and the formal procedure. Then, with the introduction of the cognitive procedure and its official recognition in the 3rd century AD. bring novelties into the evidentiary procedure. Extraordinary procedure acquired its final form during Justinian's rights as a liberal procedure (per libellos). Then comes the introduction of a system of related evaluation of evidence; the judge was no longer free to assess the probative value of the evidence presented, but the judge had to adhere to legal rules that gave certain means of proof in advance to certain means of evidence. In this way, an attempt was made to suppress the emergence of the judge's subjectivity and arbitrariness in the trial, but the negative aspect of this system was the limited possibility of the judge's free logical judgment. The revival of Roman law took place in the 12th century, first in Italy and then in most Western and Central European countries, and a new type of procedure emerged: the Roman-canonical procedure. As it was modeled on the Roman extraordinary procedure, the application of a system of bound evaluation of evidence also applied. Furthermore, the rule "unus testis nullus testis" then acquired the force of a mandatory rule of evidence, the application of which the judgecould not avoid. The value of other evidence in the proceedings was also determined.