Law on Oral and Documentary Evidence, 4th Edition

Description

It  is cardinal rule of evidence that where written documents exist, they shall be produce as being the “best evidence’ of their content. In the contradiction of oral testimony Courts must look to the documentary evidence in order to see on which side the truth lies.

The book in hand titled ‘Law on Oral and Documentary Evidence” deals with this subject giving emphasis on the probative value of oral and documentary evidences produced before the court in order to enable the adjudication of dispute whether it is civil or criminal in nature.

Oral and documentary evidence are the heart and soul of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and come within the ambit of Chapter IV to IV encompassing Sections 59 to 100.

There is no rule of evidence that the oral evidence should in every case be rejected in the face of documentary or that documentary evidence should in all cases be preferred over  to the oral evidence. The oral evidence in order to be found acceptable and trustworthy both alone or with documentary evidence or even in the teeth of the documentary evidence should be tested both intrinsically and extrinsically by cross-examination. The Appellate Court is bound, precisely in the same way as the Court of first instance to test for evidence both extrinsically as well as intrinsically. It is true that there is presumption of perjury against oral testimony, but it has been sufficiently confirmed by a long course of experience that nothing can be more dangerous than to act upon such testimony without testing its credibility both intrinsically and extrinsically.

The pandemic Covid 19 at present has not left this field untouched. While in the case of oral evidence, depositions by witness online in E-court have came to the fore in case of documentary evidence, electronic records rule the roost of the day.

The instant revised edition of this book was long over due which got held up due to lockdown of the entire nation and other exigencies. However the dedication and devotion stood strong in these testing times to provide  a complete updated edition of the book complete in all aspects to cater to the crying demand of the readers.  The book has been exhaustively revised, amendments incorporated and case -laws have been updated, up to date.