• Historical development of evidence law in Nepal: 

• Nepalese judicial system is developed under its autonomous

character. Autonomous means it is based upon religious belief.
Religion and law becomes two sides of a same coin in our early
legal history. The event which declared as crime by law is
declared sin by religion. The act omitted by law is also omitted by
religion but afterwards it is attempted to differential between law
and religion. However, our legal system in every sector is found
the origin by religion or Hindu belief only for the academic
purpose. We can divide our legal history into two types:
• Unwritten legal history
• Written legal history
• Unwritten means most of the social practice
or legal procedure depends upon the custom
and religious belief and written means most of
the social practice becomes guided by codified
law. Also unwritten legal history is
recategorized into following types on the basis
or dynasty such as kirat era and lichhavi
period.
• Kirat era:- (periond /dynasty)
• Kirat mundhum written by Iman singh chemjong is one of
the authentic legal document of this era besides the
dharmashastra though this mundhum is also based upon
Hindu religious belief. There is a chapter in mundhum i.e.
" kharon thim" ( Nyayanisaf ko sthiti) in which the legal
procedure is mentioned. This mundhum basically is based
upon manusmriti such as" Justice being violated, it
destroys the destroyer "or justice destroy the destroyer &
preserve the preserver. ( Dharmo hato hanti, dharmo
rakshati rakshita).
• According to mundhum, there was an institution to deliver
the justice sabha or kachahari. There was a person Yen hang
who is the law maker and there is a person samba(pandit)
to interpret the law.
• Disputes can be decide only after the oath taken by the
disputing parties and their respective witnesses. The
process to make an oath by the parties started by eating soil
which is still continued in kirat society for deciding the truth.
• In kirat era, there was a system ordeal was also prevailed in
society for deciding the disputing matters as a means of
evidence.
• Lichhavi period:- 
• This period is also known as the period of
unwritten legal history. It means in this period
the social system was based upon dharmashastra
but there are some legal documents to find the
legal history of this era i.e. Shilalekh of Nakshal
Narayan chaur. According to Shilalekh, the legal
procedure of this era was based upon Hindu
religious belief and dharmashastra.
• The judicial process starts from the kriyapadh i.e.
submitting the claim by plaintiff and defense by
defendant. After fulfilling the kriyapadh, sabha is the body
to examine the evidence. The evidence may be written,
unwritten or material. After only taking oath, witness
would be examined. Sabha was also known as
panchayati/panchali. Parties of dispute can appoint their
attorneys to support their claim or defend. If the witness
makes false statement on behalf of their parties, they
were entitled to be punished along with their parties.
•  
• The judicial process starts from the kriyapadh i.e.
submitting the claim by plaintiff and defense by
defendant. After fulfilling the kriyapadh, sabha is the
body to examine the evidence. The evidence may be
written, unwritten or material. After only taking oath,
witness would be examined. Sabha was also known as
panchayati/panchali. Parties of dispute can appoint their
attorneys to support their claim or defend. If the witness
makes false statement on behalf of their parties, they
were entitled to be punished along with their parties.
• Malla Period:-
• In Malla period, king Pratap Malla had made various
rules and regulation regarding examinations of
witness and collection of evidence. Those rules and
regulations were basically based upon religious
belief. For example: before making the statement
of accused, the accused person must take an oath
before kotilingeshor Mahadev of Basantapur.
Similarly the criminal Court was known as kotilinga.
• Similarly, king Jayasthiti Malla had made many
thitis which are known as chhabis daphako
sawal. Also king Jayasthiti Malla had made a
code which is known as : Manab Nyashastra” .
It was basically based on dharmashastra i.e.
Manusmriti.
• Shah period :-
• In this period, King Ram Shah had made 27
conditions related to procedure of judicial
administration. Jung Bahadur Rana had codified
General Code 1910 B.S. i. e Mulukin ain in the period
of king Surendra Bikram Shah. This mulukin ain was
amended on 2020 B.S. After this amendment, it was
named ‘Naya mulukin ain’ i.e. New general code
2020 B.S. which is still prevailed with 13th
amendment 2066 B.S.
• On the other hand, for making systematic
provisions regarding evidence law, Evidence
Act 2031 B.S. has promulgated on 2031 B.S.
which is the latest law of evidence in Nepal.