ALI

GARHMUSLI
M UNI
VERSI
TY
MALAPPURAM CENTRE

Pr
ojectwor
k

SUBJECT:LAW OFEVI
DENCE

SUBMI
TTEDBY: SUBMI
TTEDTO:
MOHDFAI
ZANKHAN GHALI
BNASHTER
GJ1947 Asst
.Pr
ofessor
18BALLB69 Dept
.Ofl
aw
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Iwoul dl i
ke to ex pr
ess my speci althanks of
grati
tudet
omyt eacherMr .GhalibNasht ersirwho
gavemet hegol denoppor tuni
tytodot hi
swonder f
ul
proj
ectonthet opi cGeneralruleoftheexcl usionof
oralbyDocument aryevi
dencewhi chalsohel pedme
i
ndoi ngalotofResear chandicamet oknowabout
somanynewt hingsIam r eall
ythankfult
ot hem.
Cont
ent
I
ntr
oduct
ion
Sect
ion91i
ndi
anev
idenceact
,1872
Or
alandDocument
aryEv
idence
Rul
es to be f
oll
owed forthe excl
usi
on ofor
al
evi
dencebydocument
aryevi
dence
Anymat
terr
equi
redt
obei
nwr
it
ingbyl
aw
Concl
usi
on
I
NTRODUCTI
ON:
-
Secti
on91st atest hatwhent het ermsofacont r
act
havebeenwr i
ttendownduet o anagr eementof
parti
es,andi ncaseswher et hel aw needssome
contractstobeseti nwr iti
ng,itwoul dbeanof fi
cial
recordofthet r
ansact ion.Thef irstpar tofSect i
on91
dealswi t
ht r
ansact i
onsv oluntarilyreducedt owrit
ing,
whilet henextpar tr efer st ocont ractswhi char e
requi
red under l aw t o be wr itten down as a
document .Thissect ion st at
est hator alevidence
should be excl uded f or m super seding a wr it
ten
contract,t
husf oll
owi ngBestEv i
dencer ulebecause
i
tisimpor tanti
nt headmi nistr
ationofj usti
ce.
One oft he fundamentalpr i
ncipl
esoft he law of
evidence isthati n al
lcases t he bestev i
dence
should begi ven.Wheret hef actto bepr ov ed is
embodi edint hedocument,t hedocumenti st he
best ev i
dence of t he fact
. Such f act shoul d,
therefor
e,bepr ov
edbyt hedocumenti tself,
thati s,
by t he pri
mar y or secondary evidence of t he
document .Themaxi m ofl aw isthatwhatev erin
writi
ngmustbeappr ovedbyt hewr i
ti
ng.Sect i
on91
oft
heI
ndi
anEv
idenceati
ncor
por
atest
hispr
inci
ple.

Sect
ion91i
nTheI
ndi
anEv
idenceAct
,1872
Evi
denceoft er
msofcontr
acts,gr
ant
sandother
di
sposit
ions of pr
oper
tyreduced t
o for
m of
documents.
Whent het er
msofacont ract,orofagrant, orofany
otherdi spositi
onofpr operty
,hav ebeenr educedt o
thef orm ofadocument ,andi nallcasesi nwhich
anymat terisr equir
edbyl aw tober educedt othe
form ofadocument ,noev i
dence2shal lbegi venin
proofoft het ermsofsuchcont ract
,grantorot her
dispositionofpr opert
y,orofsuchmat ter,exceptthe
document i tself
,or secondar y evi
dence of i ts
contentsi ncasesi nwhi chsecondar yev idenceis
admi ssible under t he pr ovi
sions her einbef
ore
contained."
Excepti
on1.—Whenapubl i
coffi
cerisrequi
redby
l
awt obeappointedinwri
ti
ng,andwhenitisshown
thatanypar
ti
cularper
sonhasactedassuchof f
icer
,
thewr i
ti
ngbywhi chheisappointedneednotbe
pr
oved.
Except
ion2.—Wi
ll
s[admit
tedtopr
obat
ein3[
Indi
a]]
maybepr ov
edbythepr
obate.

Explanati
on 1.—This sect
ion appli
es equall
yt o
casesinwhi chthecontr
acts,gr
antsordisposi
ti
ons
of propertyr ef
err
ed to ar e cont
ained in one
document ,andtocasesinwhichtheyarecontai
ned
i
nmor edocumentsthanone.
Expl
anat
ion.2.
—Wher et
herear
emoreor
igi
nal
sthan
one,
oneorigi
nalonl
yneedbeprov
ed.
Explanat
ion 3.—The st
atement,in any document
whatever
, ofafactot
herthanthefact
srefer
redtoin
thi
ssecti
on, shal
lnotpr
ecludetheadmissi
onoforal
evi
denceast othesamef act
.
I
ll
ust
rat
ions
(
a)I
facontractbecontai
nedinsever
all
ett
ers,al
l
t
hel
ett
ersi
nwhichiti
scontai
nedmustbepr
oved.
(
b)I
facontractiscont
ainedinabillofexchange,
t
hebi
ll
ofexchangemustbeproved.
(c)Ifabi
ll
ofexchangei
sdr
awni
nasetoft
hree,
one
onlyneedbeproved.
(d)Acont r
acts,i
nwr iti
ng,wi t
hB,forthedeli
ver
yof
i
ndi gouponcer t
aint erms.Thecont ractmentions
thef actthatBhadpai dAt hepri
ceofot heri
ndigo
cont r
acted forverball
yon anot heroccasion.Or al
evidencei soffer
edt hatnopay mentwasmadef or
theot heri
ndigo.Theev idenceisadmissi
ble.
(e)A givesB recei
ptformoneypaid byB.Oral
evi
denceisoff
eredofthepay
ment.Theevi
dencei
s
admissi
ble.

Or
alandDocument
aryEv
idence
Or
alEv
idence
Theev i
dencewhi chisconf
inedt othewor dsspoken
bymout hist heoralevi
dence.I foralev i
denceis
wor t
hyofcr edit
,iti
ssuffi
cienttoprov eaf actora
ti
tl
e wi thout any document ar
y ev idence. The
provisionsrelatedtooralev i
dencearegi venunder
Chapt erIV oft heIndi
anEv i
denceAct ,1872.Or al
evidenceofawi t
nesscanbeconsi dereddoubt f
ulif
i
tisi
ncont
radi
cti
onwi
tht
hepr
evi
ousst
atement
.

Document
aryEv
idence
Thepr ovisi
onsrelat
edtothedocument ar
yev i
dence
areprov i
dedunderChapter-Voft heIndi
anEv i
dence
Act,1872.Section3oft heActdef i
nesthet erm
“document ”
.Any mat t
erwhi ch i
s expressed or
describedonanysubst ancebymeansofl ett
ers,
fi
guresorr emarksorbymor et hanonemeansand
which can be used f orr ecordi
ng the matteris
consideredasa“ document”.

Rul
es to be f
oll
owed forthe excl
usi
on ofor
al
evi
dencebydocument
aryevi
dence
Theadmi ssi
onoft heor alevidenceforpr ovi
ngthe
contentsofadocumenti sexcl udedundersect i
on
91 except wher e t he secondar y ev i
dence is
considered admissibl
e.The or alevi
dence isalso
excl
uded undersect i
on 92 f orcontradict
ing t
he
ter
msofacont ractwheret hedeedi sproved.So,t
he
rul
esl ai
ddownbyt hesesect i
onscanbeconsi der
ed
asanexclusi
verul
easheldint
hecaseofRaj
aRam
Jai
swalv.GaneshPrasad.
Accordingt otherulelai
ddownundersect i
on91of
the Indian Ev i
dence Act,no ev i
dence can be
producedbef oret hecourttopr ov ethestat
ement
whent het ermsofacont ractarer educedi
nwr i
ti
ng
except t he document i t
self and under certai
n
cir
cumst ances,thesecondaryevidence.

Theor alevidenceex cludedundersect i

on91i ncase
ofadeedonl ywhent hedeedcont ainsthet ermsof
acontractorsomepr opertyisdisposedoft hroughit
orthel awbi ndsthecont entsoft hedocumentt obe
i
nwr iting.Ashel di nt hecaseofTahur iShalv .
Jhunjhunwal a,alawdoesnotmaket headopt i
ont o
beinwr i
ti
ngmandat or y.Thedeedofadopt i
oni sjust
arecor doft hefactadopt i
onhast akenpl ace.No
ri
ghtsar ecreatedbyi t.Itisnomor ethanapi eceof
evi
denceandwhenapar tyfai
lstoproducei t,t
helaw
doesnotbarhi mf r
om pr oducingoral evi
dence.
Anymat
terr
equi
redt
obei
nwr
it
ingbyl
aw
Whenapar t
icularmatteri
srequiredtobeinwr i
ti
ng
bylawt henitcannotbesubst it
utedbyoral
evidence.
Someoft heexampl esoft hedocument sthatar e
requi
redt obei nwr i
ti
ngbylaw ar ej
udgements,an
examinationofwi t
nessesincivi
laswellascriminal
cases,deeds ofconv ey
ance ofl and,deed f or
parti
ti
on,awi llandmanymor e.

Concl
usi
on
ChapterVIofEv i
denceActbegi nswi thSection91.It
deals witht he exclusion of or alev i
dence by
document aryevi
dence.Sect i
on91ofEv i
denceAct
containstwoexceptions,twoexpl anat i
onsandf ive
i
llust
rati
ons.Product
ionoft hedocumenti sr equi
red
bysaidSect i
ontoproveit scontents.Inasense, the
ruleenunciat
edbySect i
on91ofEv i
denceActcanbe
saidtobeanexcl usi
veinasmuchasi texcludesthe
admi ssionofor alev i
dencef orprov i
ngt hecont ents
oft hedocumentex cepti ncaseswher esecondar y
evidencei sallowed.I tisbasedont he‘bestev idence
rul
e’.Thebestev idencer uledoesnotdemandt he
greatestamountofev i
dencewhi chcanpossi blybe
givenofanyf act,buti tsdesi rei st opr eventt he
i
ntroduct i
on ofanyev idence t han t he document
i
tself.Itisadopt edf ort hepr eventionoff raudor
when bet terev i
dence i s wi thheld.I tisf airt o
presumet hatt hepar tyhassomesi nistermot iv efor
notpr oduci ngt hebestev idenceandt hati fof fered
hisdesi gnwoul dbef rust rated.Thi sSect ionl ays
downt hebestev i
dencer ulebuti tdoesnotpr ohibi
t
anyot herev idence,wher ewr iti
ng iscapabl eof
beingconst rueddi f
ferent l
yandwhi chshowshow
thepar ti
esunder stoodt hedocument .
Ref
erence
Avat
arsingh,“Pr
inci
plesoft
hel
awof
Ev
idence
TheI
ndi
anEv
idenceAct,
1872
www.
legal
bit
es.
com
www.
ipl
eader
s.com