HISTORY

The Indian Evidence Act,1872 is based on the English Common law. In British India, the Presidency Courts virtue of Royal courts followed English rules of the law of evidence. The entire administration of justice in the courts in the absence of any definite rules of law or evidence was in total chaos. There was an urgent need for codification of the rules of law of evidence.

The Third Law Commission which was appointed in 1861, prepared a draft Indian evidence Act, 1872 along with several other acts. of codification evidence. In 1870, the task of codification of the rules of Law of evidence was entrusted to SIR JAMES FITZ JAMES STEPHEN. He prepared a draft and was Considered the father of the Indian Evidence Act,1872.

SALIENT FEATURE OF INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872 

1)Not exhaustive: – The Evidence Act deals with the subject of the Law of evidence in general. There are other rules of evidence contained in other enactments.

2) Consolidating Act: – The evidence Act is not merely an incomplete enactment, but a consolidated one.

3)Procedural Law: – The Indian evidence is procedural in nature. It is procedural Law and it would not affect substantive rights. The law of evidence act contains all such rules which answer the questions such as “who are competent witnesses, on whom the burden of proof lies, how the knowledge of the witness to be placed before the court

4) Allows both documentary and oral evidence: – There are several kinds of evidence, but the act allows mainly two kinds of evidence ie, oral & documentary evidence, which are the most reliable and important evidence.

5) Applies to the judicial proceedings: The Indian Evidence Act 1872 applies to all judicial proceedings in or before any court according to section 1 of the Indian evidence act, 1872.

6)Hearsay evidence excluded: – under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, hearsay evidence is excluded except in a few cases. This act gives Importance to the direct and circumstantial evidence only.

7)Provides protection and privileges to the witnesses: one of such protections is that no person is to incriminate himself.

8) Law of evidence is Lex fori: Lex fori means the law of the place of action or the Law of the forum of the nation. The Law of evidence is the lex fori which governs the courts, and constitutes the basis of evidence. whether a witness is competent or not, whether a certain matter requires to be proved or not, whether a certain fact or not, where the remedy is sought to be enforced and the court sits to enforce it.

Objects of Indian Evidence Act, 1872

The entire body of laws is broadly classified into two categories namely: Substantive Laws and adjective laws. Substantive Laws are those which define the rights, duties, and liabilities whereas adjective laws are those which define the pleading procedure by which substantive applied in practice. examples of substantive Laws and Laws are the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Contract Act, and the Transfer of Property Act.

The very objective of Indian evidence is to find out the truth in the courts. Another object of this act provides the rules as an answer to questions that arise in disputes such as what matters witnesses can speak about, competent witnesses, etc.

One of the great objects of this Act was to prevent inadvertence in the admissibility of evidence and to introduce a correct and uniform rule of practice that was previously in vogue.

Role of Indian Evidence Act with Criminal procedure and civil procedure code.

Evidence Act applies to both criminal and civil proceedings. Law of evidence plays a complementary role with CPC & the CRPC and also the substantive Law that has been violated. Law of evidence is about the proof & disproof of facts which together go on to decide a case in Favour of one of the parties.

What law of evidence is all about?  

It is about the facts which have to be proved or disproved in the course of the trial in a particular case. It is also about the issue of who will prove or disprove a fact and also about how a fact is to be proved or disproved. MEANING OF EVIDENCE AND ITS KINDS