Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence-Carl Sagan
Evidence basically means anything which helps to prove or disapprove a matter of
fact in a case, which helps the judge to decide a case. The winning or losses of
a case matters upon the evidence provided by the parties to prove their point of
facts to get justice. Evidence is also any matter or statement of reality which
will be submitted at a tribunal as a implies of finding out the truth of any
affirmed matter of the truth beneath examination.
Generally, the decision of the court relating to an issue is taken by taking
into consideration the truth founded on the bases of the evidence. It is an
essential requirement of the court to conduct genuine proceedings to listen and
consider the pieces of evidence being presented. The law of evidence is the
mixture of procedural regulations concerning the proof and presentation of
facts, whether involving the testimony of witnesses, the presentation of
documents or physical objects, or the assertion of foreign law.
The law of evidence consists of the rules and regulation that has to be followed
while considering the evidence, which witness is qualified for testimony, put to
what extent the jury or judges can fact the material facts as proof, which parts
of the facts can be acknowledged, what are the documents that can be taken into
consideration as a piece of evidence and if hearsay can be taken as evidence if
taken in which circumstances.
Evidence law in the USA
The federal rule of evidence was first adopted in the year 1975. This the
codified law that applies in the federal courts of the united states. The main
laws followed in the USA are the federal rule of evidence and the California law
of evidence. Numerous states within the joined together states have either
received the federal rule of evidence with or without modification or have
reexamined their own rules or codes for evidence law to partially follow the
federal law. Out of 50 states, 47 have adopted the federal rule of law.
For the
investigators and responders, the federal rule of law act as a guide on how the
use the evidence in the court instances. The federal rule of evidence is the
code of evidence law governing the admission of records by which events within
us federal court docket system may additionally show their cases, each civil and
crook. The federal rule of evidence had been fabricated from protracted
instructional, legislative, and judicial examination before being finally
permitted in 1975. Under the federal rule of evidence, there are 4 types of
evidence- real, demonstrative, documentary, and testimonial.
The federal rule of evidence is broken down into 11 articles which are General
Provisions
Judicial Notice, Presumptions in Civil Actions and Proceedings, Relevancy and
Its Limits, Privileges, Witnesses, Opinions and Expert Testimony, Hearsay,
Authentication and Identification, Contents of Writings, Recordings, and
Photographs, Miscellaneous Rules.
Under FRE law, the primary conditions of admissibility are relevance,
materiality, and competence. In general, if a proof is proven to be relevant,
material, and competent, and is no longer barred using an exclusionary rule, it
is admissible.[1] Evidence is applicable when it has any tendency in cause to
make the truth that it is presented to show or disprove both extra or much
less probable.[2]
Evidence is contempt if the verification that is being offered
meets certain customary necessities of dependability. The fundamental indicating
that the proof meets those tests, and some other essentials of tolerability, is
known as the foundational evidence.[3]
Under document evidence, when writing is provided in evidence, a replica or
different secondary proof of its content material will not be acquired in the
region of the unique report until a sufficient clarification is supplied for the
absence of the authentic, it is considered as the best rule of evidence.[4]
In testimony evidence, memory refreshing isn’t considered as evidence and cannot
be gotten as such, even though it must be made accessible to the opposing party
and may be utilized by them for cross-examination or any other appropriate
reason.
A witness cannot be authorized till he has been impeached first and the witness
can be impeached any time under both the laws.[5] The credibility of a witness
can be impeached by the means of inspection in nine areas out of which four are
the prerequisite of contempt. Under the federal law the early bad behavior of a
to question the validity with the court's preview. They are probative of
honesty.[6]
Under both federal and California laws of evidence hearsay is considered as
evidence but with many exceptions. As hearsay is the statement made some other
than the witness out of court during the testify, it is hard to take into
consideration as evidence or not.
These are a few laws from the federal rule of law. There are many other laws
which are broken into 11 parts and in detail showcases the rules and regulation
for a piece of evidence.
Evidence law in UAE
In UAE the evidence law is for a civil and commercial transaction. Here in my
paper, I am going to talk only about that.
Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions
which contains 8 titles which are general provisions, written
evidence, Testimony of the Witnesses, Presumptions, and Res Judicata,
Acknowledgement and Interrogation of Opponents, Oath, Survey and Action
Establishing Legal Status, Expertise. There is a total of 92 sections to
describe these 8 titles in detail.
More than half of the procedures are organized through written documents. Oral
arguments or entries from the legal counselors are generally not headed with the
court. It very uncommon for the courts to hear an oral argument that happened
only in rare cases. In case the party wants oral testimony from the witness they
should file an application in front of the courts. On the granting of the
application, the witness can be cross-examined. UAE law does not consider the
party-appointed expert’s evidence. The court only takes into consideration the
court-appointed experts, they examine what actually the case is and submits the
final report.
One of the basic rules laid down in the UAE evidence law is that the claims made
by the plaintiff need to be proved and then the defendant enters to disapprove
of the claims made by the plaintiff. The proved facts which are connected to the
matters in the have to be worthwhile and fair. The personal knowledge of the
judge cannot be taken while he is ruling.[7]
Article 69 – 92 of the evidence laws speaks about the court experts appointed by
the court. Through the authority of the court, they choose to appoint experts
who are registered in the court schedule, one or more experts may be
appointed. [8]The parties can appeal to the court to appoint them an expert if
they want by their choice.
In respect to the appeal made by the parties, the
court appoints them an expert who is enrolled in the schedule of the court. In
the situations like mentioned above the duties the expert has to fulfill and the
permitted measures and the time limit by which the expert should submit the
report and the fee that should be given to the expert, all these should be
specified by the court in detail.[9]
Testimony of witness is given under articles 35-47 of the evidence law. The
incorporation of what determines the age of the witness is not defined under the
law of evidence. But when we look on up to the Islamic Shariah Law in which it
is mentioned where minimum two men should be as a witness whose age must be
above 21. Hence the witness must reach puberty. The admitter in the judicial
admission should be of legal age, sound mind, his or her will should be free and
it should not be prohibited.[10]
In a criminal or civil evidence, the witness
should swear the oath before is testified. A witness amounts to a penalty if he
appears in the court and refuses to take the oath or restrain him from taking
the oath without a proper legal excuse under the penal law. In the absence of
the witness attending the testimony with a proper excuse the designated judge
may go to him and take hear his testimony.[11] The testimony of each witness is
taken separately in absence of the existence of the witness who has not yet
given their testimony. At the same session when the prosecution's witness is
heard, the defense witness will be heard, unless there is an obstruction.[12]
Comparative study
The evidence law in both countries is very much different from each other. The
FRE is divided into 11 articles whereas the evidence law in UAE is divided into
8 titles and the categories into which they are divided are very different. The
FRE has a whole article speaking about hearsay evidence but when we compare it
with the evidence law in UAE it barely mentions hearsay evidence.
Under the FRE
the parties are not limited to calling its own experts[13] but in the evidence
law of UAE, the courts of UAE do not experts appointed by the parties, they only
take into experts appointed by the court into consideration. Both the evidence
laws don’t specify the determination of the age of the witness.
The plaintiff
has to prove his case to satisfy the court in both the evidence laws and then
the defendant has to come and disapprove of the claim. The state of mind of the
admitter is to be taken into consideration in both countries. And he should be
under the influence while giving evidence, if he is under the influence the
evidence is not valid.
Another major difference in the FRE and UAE evidence law
is that in FRE majority of the submission are done orally arguments but in UAE
majority of the submissions are done in written documents and oral arguments are
very rare and if any party wishes for oral arguments the party should file an
application in front of the court, only if it is approved by the court the party
can cross-examine the witness.
Conclusion
The law of evidence is the foremost imperative department for the concept of a
reasonable trial. Through the law of evidence. Evidence can be portrayed as a
material placed in Infront of the court for the reason for helping the judge to
decide in a matter of a case. The judge’s judgment is constrained to the
evidence placed in Infront of him. Hence it is significant for the party to
give correlative evidence to support their side of the matter.
The evidence law
speaks about who can testify, what kind of evidence is accepted in the courts,
oath swearing, conditions for admissibility, and many more. The law of evidence
differs from one country to another, the evidence considered in one country may
not be considered as a piece of evidence in the other country.
End-Notes:
- Evid. Code § 351; Fed. Rules Evid. 402.
- Evid. Code § 210; Fed. Rules Evid. 401.
- Evid. Code § 402, 403
- Evid. Code § 1500 et seq.; Fed. Rules Evid. 1002
- Evid. Code § 785; Fed. Rules Evid. 607.
- Fed. Rules Evid. 608(b)
- Article (1), Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and
Commercial
- Article (69), Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and
Commercial
- Article (70), Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and
Commercial
- Article (52), Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and
Commercial
- Article (43), Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and
Commercial
- Article (41), Federal Law No. (10) of 1992 On Evidence in Civil and
Commercial
- Fed. Rules Evid. 706
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