The Evidence Act, 1872
Act No: 24
Year: 1872
Preamble
An Act to consolidate, define and amend the law of Evidence.
Key Provisions
Chapter I - Preliminary
Section 1 - Short title, extent and commencement
This Act may be called the Evidence Act, 1872. It extends to the whole of Bangladesh and shall take effect on the first day of September, 1872.
Section 2 - Repeal of enactments
On the commencement of this Act, the enactments mentioned in the schedule shall be repealed.
Section 3 - Interpretation clause
In this Act the following words and expressions are used in the following senses, unless a contrary intention appears from the context: - "Court" includes all Judges and Magistrates, and all persons, except arbitrators, legally authorized to take evidence - "Fact" means and includes any thing, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being perceived by the senses - "Relevant" means one fact is said to be relevant to another when the one is connected with the other
Chapter II - Of the Relevancy of Facts
Section 5 - Evidence may be given of facts in issue and relevant facts
Evidence may be given in any suit or proceeding of the existence or non-existence of every fact in issue and of such other facts as are hereinafter declared to be relevant, and of no others.
Section 6 - Relevancy of facts forming part of same transaction
Facts which, though not in issue, are so connected with a fact in issue as to form part of the same transaction, are relevant, whether they occurred at the same time and place or at different times and places.
Section 7 - Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect of facts in issue
Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect, immediate or otherwise, of relevant facts, or facts in issue, or which constitute the state of things under which they happened, or which afforded an opportunity for their occurrence or transaction, are relevant.
Chapter III - Of Facts which need not be Proved
Section 56 - Fact judicially noticed need not be proved
No fact of which the Court will take judicial notice need be proved.
Section 57 - Facts of which Court must take judicial notice
The Court shall take judicial notice of the following facts: - All laws in force in Bangladesh - All public Acts passed or hereafter to be passed by Parliament of Bangladesh - All local and personal Acts
Chapter IV - Of Oral Evidence
Section 59 - Proof of facts by oral evidence
All facts, except the contents of documents or electronic records, may be proved by oral evidence.
Section 60 - Oral evidence must be direct
Oral evidence must, in all cases whatever, be direct; that is to say— - if it refers to a fact which could be seen, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he saw it - if it refers to a fact which could be heard, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he heard it
Chapter V - Of Documentary Evidence
Section 61 - Proof of contents of documents
The contents of documents may be proved either by primary or by secondary evidence.
Section 62 - Primary evidence
Primary evidence means the document itself produced for the inspection of the Court.
Section 63 - Secondary evidence
Secondary evidence means and includes: - Certified copies given under the provisions hereinafter contained - Copies made from the original by mechanical processes - Copies made from or compared with the original
Chapter VI - Of the Exclusion of Oral by Documentary Evidence
Section 91 - Evidence of terms of contracts, grants and other dispositions of property reduced to form of document
When the terms of a contract, or of a grant, or of any other disposition of property, have been reduced to the form of a document, and in all cases in which any matter is required by law to be reduced to the form of a document, no evidence shall be given in proof of the terms of such contract, grant or other disposition of property, or of such matter, except the document itself, or secondary evidence of its contents.
Chapter VII - Of the Production and Effect of Evidence
Section 101 - Burden of proof
Whoever desires any Court to give judgment as to any legal right or liability dependent on the existence of facts which he asserts, must prove that those facts exist.
Section 102 - On whom burden of proof lies
The burden of proof in a suit or proceeding lies on that person who would fail if no evidence at all were given on either side.
Section 103 - Burden of proof as to particular fact
The burden of proof as to any particular fact lies on that person who wishes the Court to believe in its existence, unless it is provided by any law that the proof of that fact shall lie on any particular person.
Chapter VIII - Of Estoppel
Section 115 - Estoppel
When one person has, by his declaration, act or omission, intentionally caused or permitted another person to believe a thing to be true and to act upon such belief, neither he nor his representative shall be allowed, in any suit or proceeding between himself and such person or his representative, to deny the truth of that thing.
Chapter IX - Of Witnesses
Section 118 - Who may testify
All persons shall be competent to testify unless the Court considers that they are prevented from understanding the questions put to them, or from giving rational answers to those questions, by tender years, extreme old age, disease, whether of body or mind, or any other cause of the same kind.
Section 119 - Dumb witnesses
A witness who is unable to speak may give his evidence in any other manner in which he can make it intelligible, as by writing or by signs; but such writing must be written and the signs made in open Court.
Chapter X - Of the Examination of Witnesses
Section 135 - Order of production and examination of witnesses
The order in which witnesses are produced and examined shall be regulated by the law and practice for the time being relating to civil and criminal procedure respectively.
Section 136 - Judge to decide as to admissibility of evidence
When either party proposes to give evidence of any fact, the Judge may ask the party proposing to give such evidence in what manner the alleged fact, if proved, would be relevant.
The Evidence Act, 1872 is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the Indian subcontinent's legal system. It comprehensively deals with what evidence is admissible in courts, how facts should be proved, and the procedures for examination of witnesses. This Act continues to be the foundational law for evidence in Bangladesh's legal system.