Section 125 of Evidence Act CAP 80: Competency generally

(1) A witness who is unable to speak may give his evidence in any other manner in which he can make it intelligible, as, for example, by writing or by signs; but such writing must be written, and the...

(1) In civil proceedings the parties to the suit, and the husband or wife of any party to the suit, shall be competent witnesses. (2) In criminal proceedings every person charged with an offence,...

A witness shall not be excused from answering any question as to any matter relevant to the matter in issue in any suit or in any civil or criminal proceeding, upon the ground that the answer to such...

No judge or magistrate shall, except upon the special order of some court to which he is subordinate, be compelled to answer any questions as to his own conduct in court as such judge or magistrate,...

(1) No person shall be compelled to disclose any communication made to him or her during marriage, by the other spouse; nor shall a person be permitted to disclose such communication without the...

Whenever it is stated on oath (whether by affidavit or otherwise) by a Minister that he has examined the contents of any document forming part of any unpublished official records, the production of...

No public officer shall be compelled to disclose communications made by any person to him in the course of his duty, when he considers that the public interest would suffer by the disclosure.

(1) No judge, magistrate or police officer shall be compelled to say whence he got any information as to the commission of any offence, and no revenue officer shall be compelled to say whence he got...

(1) No advocate shall at any time be permitted unless with his client’s express consent, to disclose any communication made to him in the course and for the purpose of his employment as such advocate,...

The provisions of section 134 of this Act shall apply to interpreters, and the clerks or servants of advocates.

(1) If any party to a suit or proceeding gives evidence therein at his own instance or otherwise, he shall not be deemed to have consented thereby to such disclosure as is mentioned in section 134(1)...

No one shall be compelled to disclose to the court any confidential communication which has taken place between him and his advocate unless he offers himself as a witness, in which case he may be...

No witness who is not a party to the suit shall be compelled to produce his title deeds to any property, or any document in virtue of which he holds any property as pledge or mortgagee, or any...

No one shall be compelled to produce documents in his possession, which any other person would be entitled to refuse to produce if they were in his possession, unless such other person consents to...

(1) A bank, or officer of a bank, shall not, in any legal proceedings to which the bank is not a party, be compelled to produce any banker’s book the contents of which can be proved under the...

An accomplice shall be a competent witness against an accused person; and a conviction shall not be illegal merely because it proceeds upon the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice.

No person who is entitled to refuse to produce a document shall be compelled to give oral evidence of its contents.

No particular number of witnesses shall, in the absence of any provision of law to the contrary, be required for the proof of any fact.

(1) When either party proposes to give evidence of any fact, the court may ask the party proposing to give the evidence in what manner the alleged fact, if proved, would be admissible. (2) The court...

(1) The examination of a witness by the party who calls him shall be called his examination-in-chief. (2) The examination of a witness by the adverse party shall be called his cross-examination....

(1) Witnesses shall first be examined-in-chief, then, if the adverse party so desires, cross-examined, then, if the party calling them so desires, re-examined. (2) Subject to the following...

A person called to produce a document does not become a witness by the mere fact that he produces it, and cannot be cross-examined unless and until he is called as a witness.

A witness to character may be cross-examined and re-examined.

Any question suggesting the answer which the person putting it wishes or expects to receive, or suggesting a disputed fact as to which the witness is to testify, is a leading question.

(1) Leading questions must not, if objected to by the adverse party, be asked in an examination-in-chief or in a re-examination, except with the permission of the court. (2) The court shall permit...

Leading questions may be asked in cross-examination.

Any witness may be asked, whilst under examination, whether any contract or grant or other disposition of property as to which he is giving evidence was not contained in a document, but if he says...

A witness may be cross-examined as to previous statements made by him in writing or reduced into writing, and relevant to matters in question, without such writing being shown to him or being proved,...

When a witness is cross-examined he may, in addition to the questions hereinbefore referred to, be asked any questions which tend— (a) to test his accuracy, veracity or credibility; (b) to...

If any question asked under paragraph (c) of subsection 154 of this Act for the purpose of affecting the credit of the witness relates to a matter relevant to the suit or proceeding, the provisions of...

A person charged with an offence and called as a witness for the defence may be asked any question in cross-examination notwithstanding that the answer may tend to incriminate him as to the offence...

(1) If any question asked relates to a matter not relevant to the suit or proceeding except in so far as it affects the credit of the witness by injuring his character, the court shall decide whether...

No such question as is referred to in section 157 of this Act ought to be asked unless the person asking it has reasonable grounds for thinking that the imputation which it conveys is well founded.

The court may forbid any questions or inquiries which it regards as indecent or scandalous, although such questions or inquiries may have some bearing on the questions before the court, unless they...

The court shall forbid any question which appears to it to be intended to insult or annoy, or which, though proper in itself, appears to the court needlessly offensive in form.

The court may, in its discretion, permit the person who calls a witness to put any questions to him which might be put in cross-examination by the adverse party.

When a witness has been asked and has answered any question which is relevant to the proceedings only in so far as it tends to shake his credit by injuring his character, no evidence shall be given to...

(1) The credit of a witness may be impeached in the following ways by the adverse party, or, with the consent of the court, by the party who calls him— (a) by the evidence of persons who testify...

When a witness the truthfulness of whose evidence it is intended to confirm gives evidence of any fact, he may be questioned as to any other circumstances which he observed at or near the time or...

In order to show that the testimony of a witness is consistent any former statement made by such witness, whether written or oral, relating to the same fact at or about the time when the fact took...

Whenever any statement admissible under section 33 or section 34 of this Act is proved, all matters which might have been proved if that person had been called as a witness and had denied upon...

(1) A witness may, while under examination, refresh his memory by referring to any writing made by himself at the time of the transaction concerning which he is questioned, or made so soon afterwards...

A witness may testify to facts mentioned in any such writing as is referred to in section 167 of this Act although he has no specific recollection of the facts themselves, if he is sure that the facts...

Any writing referred to in section 167 or section 168 of this Act shall be produced and shown to the adverse party if he requires it, and such party may, if he pleases, cross-examine the witness...

(1) A witness summoned to produce a document shall, if it is in his possession or power, bring it to court notwithstanding any objection which there may be to its production or to its admissibility,...

When a party calls for a document which he has given the other party notice to produce, and such document is produced and inspected by the party calling for its production, he is bound to give it as...

When a party refuses to produce a document for which he has had notice to produce, he cannot afterwards use the document as evidence without the consent of the other party or the order of the court.

(1) A judge or magistrate may, in order to discover or to obtain proper evidence, ask any question he pleases, in any form, at any time, of any witness, or of the parties about any fact whether or not...

Deleted by Act No. 7 of 2007, Sch.

The improper admission or rejection of evidence shall not of itself be ground for a new trial or for reversal of any decision in a case if it shall appear to the court before which the objection is...