Preliminary

Relevancy

Admissions

Confessions

Statements by Persons who cannot be called as Witnesses

Statements made in Special Circumstances

Facts Relevant in Special Circumstances

How much of a Statement is to be proved

Judgements of Courts of Justice when Relevant

Opinions of Third Persons when Relevant

Character, when Relevant

Facts which need not be Proved

Oral evidence and the inspection of real evidence

Documentary evidence

Admissibility of documentary Evidence

Primary and Secondary Documentary Evidence

Proof of Execution of Documents

Public and Private Documents

Presumption as to Documents

Of the exclusion of oral by documentary evidence

Production and effect of evidence

Estoppel

Witnesses

Competency in Proceedings Relating to Adultery

Official and privileged Communications

Corroboration

Taking oral evidence and the examination of witnesses

The Examination of Witnesses

Evidence of previous conviction

Wrongful admission and rejection of evidence

Service and Execution throughout Nigeria of Process to Compel

the Attendance of Witnesses before Courts of the States and The

Part I

Preliminary

 

Short title and interpretation

 

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Evidence Act.

 

(2) This Act shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before any court established in the Federal Republic of Nigeria but it shall not apply -

(a) to proceedings before an arbitrator; or

(b) to a field general court martial;

or

(c) to judicial proceedings in any civil cause or mater in or before any Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Court of Appeal, Area Court or Customary Court unless the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces or the Military Governor or Military Administrator of a State, by order published in the Gazette, confers upon any or all Sharia Courts of Appeal, Customary Courts of Appeal, Area Courts or Customary Courts in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja or a State, as the case may be power to enforce any or all the provisions of this Act.

(3)        In judicial proceedings in any criminal cause or matter in or before an Area Court, the Court shall be guided by the provisions of this Act and in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code Law.

 

(4)       Notwithstanding any thing in this section, an Area Court shall, in Judicial Proceedings in any criminal cause or matter, be bound by the provisions of sections 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, and 143 of this Act.

 

2. (1) In this Act, except as the context otherwise requires -

 

"bank" and "banker" means any person, persons, partnership or company carrying on the business of bankers and also include any savings bank established under the Federal Savings Bank Act, and also any banking company incorporated under any charter heretofore or hereafter granted, or under any Act heretofore or hereafter passed relating to such incorporation;

 

"bankers books" - the expressions relating to bankers' books include ledgers, day books, cash books, account books and all other books used in the ordinary business of a bank;

 

"custom" is a rule which, in a particular district, has, for long usage, obtained the force of law;

 

"document" includes books, maps, plans, drawings, photographs and also includes any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks or by more than one of these means, intended to be used or which may be used for the purpose of recording that matter;

 

"fact" includes -

(a) any thing, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being perceived by the senses;

(b) any mental condition of which any person is conscious;

 

"fact in issue" includes any fact from which either by itself or in connection with other facts the existence, nonexistence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding necessarily follows;

 

"proceedings includes arbitrations under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, and "court" shall be construed accordingly;

 

"statement" includes any representation of fact, whether made in words or otherwise;

 

"wife" and "husband" mean respectively the wife and husband of a monogamous marriage.

 

(2) A fact is said to be -

(a) proved when, after considering the matters before it, the court either believes it to exist or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, in the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does exist;

 

(b) disproved" when, after considering the matters before it, the court either believes that it does not exist or considers its non existence so provinces of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does not exist;

 

(c) not proved when it is neither proved nor disproved.

 

(3) In judicial proceedings in any criminal cause or matter in or before an Area Court, the Court shall be guided by the provisions of this Act and in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal procedure Code Law.

 

(4) Notwithstanding anything in this section, an Area Court shall, in judicial proceedings in any criminal cause or matter, be bound by the provisions of sections 138,139,140,141,142 and 143 of this Act.

 

 

3. One fact is said to be relevant to another when the one is connected with the other in any of the ways referred to in the provisions of this Act relating to the relevancy of facts.

 

4. (1) Whenever it is provided by this Act that the court may presume a fact, it may either regard such fact as proved unless and until it is disproved, or may call for proof of it.

 

(2) Whenever it is directed by this Act that the court shall presume a fact, it shall regard such fact as proved unless and until it is disproved.

 

(3) When one fact is declared by this Act to be conclusive proof of another, the court shall, on proof of the one fact, regard the other as proved, and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it.

 

 

5. Nothing in this Act shall-

 

(a) prejudice the admissibility of any evidence which would apart from the provisions of this Act be admissible; or

 

(b) enable documentary evidence to be given as to any declaration relating to a matter of pedigree, if that declaration would not have been admissible as evidence if this Act had not passed.

 

 

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Part II

Relevancy

 

Relevance of Facts

 

 

6. Evidence may be given in any suit or proceeding of the existence or non existence of every fact in issue and of such other facts as are hereinafter declared to be relevant, and of no others:

 

Provided that

 

(a) the court may exclude evidence of facts which, though relevant or deemed to be relevant to the issue, appears to it to be too remote to be material in all the circumstances of the case; and

 

(b) this section shall not enable any person to give evidence of a fact which he is disentitled to prove by any provision of the law for the time being in force.

 

 

7. Facts, which though not in issue, are so connected with a fact in issue as to form part of the same transaction, are relevant, whether they occurred at the same time and place or at different times and places.

 

 

8. Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect, immediate or otherwise, of relevant facts or facts in issue, or which constitute the state of things under which they happened, or which afforded an opportunity for their occurrence or transaction, are relevant.

 

 

9. (1) Any fact is relevant which shows or constitutes a motive or preparation for any fact in issue or relevant fact.

 

(2) The conduct of any party, or of any agent to any party, to any proceedings, in reference to such suit or proceeding, or in reference to any fact in issue therein or relevant thereto, and the conduct of any person an offence against whom is the subject of any proceeding, is relevant, if such conduct influences or is influenced by any fact in issue or relevant fact, and whether it was previous or subsequent thereto.

 

(3) The word "conduct" in this section does not include statements accompany and explain acts other than statements; but this provision shall not affect the relevancy of statements under any other section.

 

(4) When the conduct of any person is relevant, any statement made to hi or in his presence and hearing which affects such conduct is relevant.

 

10. Facts necessary to explain or introduce a fact in issue or relevant fact, or which support or rebut an inference suggested by a fact in issue or relevant fact, or which establish the identity of any thing or person whose identity is relevant, or fix the time or place at which any fact in issue or relevant fact happened, or which show the relation of parties by whom any such fact was transacted, are relevant in so far as they are necessary for that purpose.

 

 

11. (1) Where there is reasonable ground to believe that two or more persons have conspired together to commit an offence or actionable wrong anything said, done or written by any one of such persons in execution or furtherance of their common intention, after the time when such intention was first entertained by any one of them, is a relevant fact as against each of the persons believed to be so conspiring, as well for the purpose of proving the existence of the conspiracy as for the purpose of showing that any such person was a party to it; but statements made by individual conspirators as to measures taken in the execution or furtherance of any such common intention are not deemed to be relevant as such as against any conspirators, except those by whom or in whose presence such statements are made.

 

(2) Evidence of acts or statements deemed to be relevant under this section may not be given until the court is satisfied that, apart from them, there are prima facie grounds for believing in the existence of the conspiracy to which they relate.

 

 

12. Facts not otherwise relevant are relevant -

 

(a) if they are inconsistent with any fact in issue or relevant fact;

 

(b) if by themselves or in connection with other facts they make the existence or non existence of any fact in issue or relevant fact probable or improbable.

 

 

13. In proceedings in which damages are claimed, any fact which will enable the court to determine the amount of damages which ought to be awarded is relevant.

 

 

14. (1) A custom may be adopted as part of the law governing a particular set of circumstances if it can be noticed judicially or can be proved to exist by evidence; the burden of proving a custom shall lie upon the person alleging its existence.

 

(2) A custom may be judicially noticed by the court if it has been acted upon by a court of superior or co-ordinate jurisdiction in the same area to an extent which justifies the court asked to apply it in assuming that the persons or the class of persons concerned in that area look upon the same as binding in relation to circumstances similar to those under consideration.

 

(3) Where a custom cannot be established as one judicially noticed it may be established and adopted as part of the law governing particular circumstances by calling evidence to show that persons or the class of persons concerned in the particular area regard the alleged custom as binding upon them:

Provided that in case of any custom relied upon in any judicial proceeding it shall not be enforced as law if it is contrary to public policy and is not in accordance with natural justice, equity and good conscience.

 

 

15. Every fact is deemed to be relevant which tends to show how in particular instances a matter alleged to be a custom was understood and acted upon by persons then interested.

 

16. (1) Facts showing the existence of any state of mind, such as intention, knowledge, good faith, negligence, rashness, ill-will or goodwill towards any particular person, or showing the existence of any state of body or bodily feeling, are relevant when the existence of any such state of mind or body or bodily feeling is in issue or relevant.

 

(2) A fact relevant as showing the existence of a relevant state of mind must show that the state of mind exists, not generally, but in reference to the particular matter in question.

 

 

17. When there is a question whether an act was accidental or intentional, or done with a particular knowledge or intention, the fact that such act formed part of a series of similar occurrences, in each of which the person doing the act was concerned, is relevant.

 

 

18. When there is a question whether a particular act was done, the existence of any course of business, according to which it naturally would have been done, is a relevant fact.

 

 

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Admissions

 

 

19. An admission is a statement, oral or documentary, which suggest any inference as to any fact in issue or relevant fact, and which is made by any of the persons, and in the circumstances, hereinafter mentioned.

 

 

20. (1) Statements made by a party to the proceeding, or by an agent to any such party, whom the court regards, in the circumstances of the case, as expressly or impliedly authorised by him to make them, are admissions.

 

(2) Statements made by parties to suits, suing or sued in a representative character, are not admissions unless they were made while the party making them held that character.

 

(3) Statements made by -

 

(a) persons who have any proprietary or pecuniary interest in the subject matter of the proceedings, and who made the statement in their character of persons so interested; or

 

(b) persons from whom the parties to the suit have deprived their interest in the subject matter of the suit, are admissions, if they are made during the continuance of the interest of the persons making the statements.

 

 

21. Statements made by persons whose position or liability it is necessary to prove as against any party to the suit are admissions if such statements would be relevant as against such persons in relation to such position or liability in a suit brought by or against them, and if they are made whilest the person making them occupies such position or is subject to such liability.

 

 

22. Statements made by persons to whom a party to the suit has expressly referred for information in reference to a matter in dispute are admissions.

 

 

23. Admissions are relevant and may be proved as against the person who makes them or his representative in interest, but they cannot be proved by or on behalf of the person who makes them or by his representative in interest, except in the following cases -

 

(a) an admission may be proved by or on behalf of the person making it when it is of such a nature that, if the person making it were dead, it would be relevant as between third parties under section 33 of this Act;

 

(b) an admission may be proved by or on behalf of the person making it, when it consists of a statement of the existence of any state of mind or body, relevant or in issue, made at or about the time when such sate of mind or body existed, and is accompanied by conduct rendering its falsehood improbable, and

 

(c) an admission may be proved by or on behalf of the person making it, if it is relevant otherwise than as an admission.

 

 

24. Oral admissions as to the contents of a document are not relevant, unless and until the party proposing to prove them shows that he is entitled to give secondary evidence of the contents of such document under the provision of Part V of this Act, or unless the genuineness of a document produced is in question.

 

 

25. In civil cases no admission is relevant, if it is made either upon an express condition that evidence of it is not to be given, or in circumstances from which the court can infer that the parties agreed together that evidence of it should not be given:

Provided that nothing in this section shall be taken to exempt any legal practitioner from giving evidence of any matter of which he may be compelled to give evidence under section 170 of this Act.

 

 

26. Admissions are into conclusive proof of the matters admitted, but they may operate as stoppers under the provisions of Part VIII of this Act.

 

 

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Confessions

 

 

27. (1) A confession is an admission made at any time by a person charged with a crime, stating or suggesting the inference that he committed that crime.

 

(2) Confessions, if voluntary, are deemed to be relevant facts as against the persons who make them only.

(3) Where more persons than one are charged jointly with a criminal offence and a confession made by one of such persons in the presence of one or more of the other persons so charged is given in evidence, the court, or a jury where the trial is one with a jury, shall not take such statement into consideration as against any of such other persons in whose presence it was made unless he adopted the said statement by words or conduct.

 

 

28. A confession made by an accused person is irrelevant in a criminal proceeding, if the making of the confession appears to the court to have been caused by any inducement, threat or promise having reference to the charge against the accused person, proceeding from a person in authority and sufficient, in the opinion of the court, to give the accused person grounds which would appear to him reasonable for supposing that by making it he would gain any advantage or avoid any evil of a temporal nature.

 

 

29. Where information is received from a person who is accused of an offence, whether such person is in custody or not, and as a consequence of such information any fact is discovered, the discovery of that fact, together with evidence that such discovery was made in consequence of the information received from the accused, may be given in evidence where such information itself would not be admissible in evidence.

 

 

30. If such a confession as is referred to in section 28 of this Act is made after the impression caused by any such inducement, threat or promise has, in the opinion of the court, been fully removed, it is relevant.

 

 

31. If such a confession is otherwise relevant, it does not become irrelevant merely because it was made under a promise of secrecy, or in consequence of a deception practised on the accused person for the purpose of obtaining it, or when he was drunk, or because it was made in answer to questions which he need not have answered, whatever may have been the form of those questions, or because he was not warned that he was not bound to make such statement and that evidence of it might be given.

 

 

32. Evidence amounting to a confession may be used as such against the person who gives it, although it was given upon oath, and although the proceeding in which it was given had reference to the same subject matter as the proceeding in which it is to be proved, and although the witness might have refused to answer the questions put to him; but if, after refusing to answer any such question, the witness is improperly compelled to answer it, his answer is not a voluntary confession.

 

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Statements by persons who cannot be called as Witnesses

 

 

33. (1) Statements, written or verbal, or relevant facts made by a person who is dead are themselves relevant facts in the following cases -

 

(a) when the statement is made by a person as to the cause of his death, or as to any of the circumstances of the transaction which resulted in his death, in cases in which the cause of that person's death comes into question; such statement are relevant only in trials for murder or manslaughter of the deceased person and only when such person at the time of making such declaration believed himself to be in danger of approaching death although he may have entertained at the time of making it hopes of recovery.

 

(b) when the statement was made by such person in the ordinary course of business, and in particular when it consists of any entry or memorandum made by him in books kept in the ordinary course of business, or in the discharge of professional duty; or of an acknowledgement written or signed by him or the receipt of money, goods, securities or property of any kind; or of a document used in commerce written or sighed by him, or of the date of a letter or other document usually dated, written or signed by him;

 

(c) when the statement is against the pecuniary or proprietary interest of the person making it and the said person had peculiar means of knowing the matter and had no interest to misrepresent it;

 

(d) when the statement gives the opinion of any such person, as to the existence of any public right or custom or matter of public or general interest, of the existence of which, if it existed, he would have been likely to be aware, and when such statement was made before any controversy as to such right, custom or matter had arisen;

 

(e) subject to the conditions hereinafter mentioned, when the statement relates to the existence of any relationship by blood, marriage or adoption between persons as to whose relationship by blood, marriage or adoption the person making the statement had special means of knowledge.

 

(2) The conditions above referred to are as follows-

 

(a) such a statement is deemed to be relevant only in a case in which the pedigree to which it relates is in issue, and not to a case in which it is only relevant to the issue;

 

(b) it must be made by a declaring shown to be related by blood to the person to whom it relates, or by the husband or wife of such a person; except that -

 

(i) a declaration by a deceased parent that he or she did not marry the other parent until after the birth of a child is relevant to the question of the illegitimacy of such child upon any question arising as to the right of the child to inherit real or personal property under the Legitimacy Act, and

in proceedings of the legitimacy of any person a declaration made by a person who, if a decree of legitimacy were granted, would stand towards the petitioner in any of the relationships mentioned in paragraph

 

(b) of this subsection, is deemed relevant to the question of the identity of the parents of the petitioner;

 

(c) it must be made before the question in relation to which it is to be proved had arisen, but it does not cease to be deemed to be relevant because it was made for the purpose of preventing the question from arising.

 

(3) (a) the declarations of a deceased testator as to his testamentary intentions, and as to the contents of his will, are deemed to be relevant -

 

(i) when his will has been lost, and when the is a question as to what were its contents, or

(ii) when the question is whether an existing will is genuine or was improperly obtained, or

(iii) when the question is whether any and which of more existing documents than one constitute his will,

 

(b) it is immaterial whether the declarations were made before or after the making or loss of the will.

 

 

34. (1) Evidence given by a witness in a judicial proceeding or before any person authorised by law to take it, is relevant for the purpose of proving, in a subsequent judicial proceeding, or in a later stage of the same judicial proceeding, the truth of the facts which it states, when the witness is dead or cannot be found, or is incapable of giving evidence, or is kept out of the way by the adverse party, or when his presence cannot be obtained without an amount of delay or expense which, in the circumstances of the case, the court considers unreasonable:

 

Provided

 

(a) that the proceeding was between the same parties or their representatives in interest;

 

(b) that the adverse party in the first proceeding had the right and opportunity to cross examine; and

 

(c) that the questions in issue were substantially the same in the first as in the second proceeding.

 

(2) A criminal trial or inquiry shall be deemed to be a proceeding between the prosecutor and the accused within the meaning of this section.

 

(3) In the case of a person employed in the public service of the Federation or of a State who is required to give evidence for any purpose connected with a judicial proceeding it shall be sufficient to account