Dexter vs Sinister in Badge Design

[Bill A]

A question for those knowledgeable of heraldry. Most cap badges have the central design (where it is of that type motif) facing the left (sinister) as viewed. Is there symbolic significance to this, with sinister having been equated with evil? Thus the beaver/dragon/snake etc of the badge faces the "evil"? Is this a heraldic practice? Or just a convention?

[magpie]

The animal is facing forwards just like cap badges on berets ect when on a shield for a right handed person.
Andy

[GriffMJ]

Bill

The sinister side of the shield is feminine, see examples of married couples and the wifes arms are shown in Sinister. For a beast (for example) to be positioned that way would indicate retreat..... now, years ago, I remember being told that Heralds could alter a Knights Arms (abatement) to show retreat in the face of the enemy and "one" of the ways of showing this was to reverse it?

[Phillip Herring]

Bill,
My understanding is that sinister and dexter were the Latin for left and right respectively. They are used in heraldry and probably work better than "left" and "right" to avoid confusion as to whether the reference is to the viewer or th wearer.
Regarding "sinister". I seem to recall reading that there was a negative connotation to being left handed, and that is how the word sinister came to be used in an "evil" sense.

Phil