I'm wondering if that's what it is... I've searched for all possible combinations of (apparent/evident/ostensible/obvious/manifest etc) + (situation/position/state/status/condition etc) but couldn't find anything convincing.

As I understand it from looking at several websites, الوضع الظاهر refers to a situation in which no evidence needs to be provided if the a party to a contract appears to be what he claims to be.

The definition of "prima facie" is:
apparently correct; not needing proof unless evidence to the contrary is shown http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prima_facie

or longer:

prima facie
: (pry-mah fay-shah) adj. Latin for "at first look," or "on its face," referring to a lawsuit or criminal prosecution in which the evidence before trial is sufficient to prove the case unless there is substantial contradictory evidence presented at trial. http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1598