Witness - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition witness

Definition :

Witness, is a person who testifies in a court, Webster Random House Dictionary, p. 1680.

Witness, one who gives evidence in a cause.

1. One who sees, knows, or vouches for something

2. One who gives testimony, under oath or affirmation, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1596.

A witness must attend in court according to the requirement of his subp'na. If he has not been paid his lawful expenses, he may refuse to be sworn; but if he be once sworn, he must give his evidence. See OATH and AFFIRMATION.

In civil cases, as a rule, husband and wife are competent and compellable witnesses against each other [Evidence Amendment Act, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 83), s. 1], but husbands and wives are not compellable to disclose communications between each other (s. 3 ibid.). As to criminal cases, see Criminal Evidence Act, 1898, as amended, and that title.

A witness is not obliged to answer any question which tends to criminate him.

On the application of either party, all the witnesses on both sides are ordered to leave the court until called; and each is only called when his evidence is actually required. If a witness who has been ordered out of Court remains, it is a contempt, if wilful and may be treated as such; but his evidence is not rejected. Each witness remains in Court after he has given his evidence, and is expected not to communicate with those outside. But every party to the cause is entitled to be present throughout, though he be about to give evidence. The application is made either before the opening of the case, or before the first witness is called.

A witness cannot leave the precincts of the Court without leave after the evidence of the side is over, nor even when the judge has begun to sum up, for any witness may at the discretion of the judge be recalled t any time before the verdict is given.

See especially title EVIDENCE; EXPERTS; and see also SUBP'NA; VOIR DIRE; CRIMINAL EVIDENCE ACT, 1898; PERJURY; CONDUCT-MONEY; CHARACTER; WILLS and ATTESTATION.

It is applicable to members of the police force and employees and officers of the Customs Department also, Bhagubhai Dullabhbhai Bhandari v. District Magistrate, AIR 1956 SC 585: (1956) SCR 533.

So far as production of documents is concerned no doubt s. 139, Evidence Act says that a person producing a document on summons is not a witness. But that s. is meant to regulate the right of cross-examination. It is not a guide to the connotation of the word 'witness', which must be understood in its natural sense, i.e., as referring to a person who furnishes evidence. Indeed, every positive volitional act which furnishes evidence is testimony, and testimonial compulsion connotes coercion which procures the positive volitional evidentiary act of the person, as opposed to the negative attitude of silence or submission on his part. Nor is there any reason to think that the protection in respect of the evidence so procured is confined to what transpires at the trial in the Court room, M.P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra, AIR 1954 SC 300 (304): 1954 SCR 1077. (Evidence Act, 1872, s. 139)