The following Dispute Resolution guidance note provides comprehensive and up to date legal information covering:This Practice Note provides guidance on the interpretation and application of the relevant provisions of the CPR. This document contains the following information: The hearsay rule in civil proceedings. Copyright © Inbrief, All Rights Reserved. The duty to give notice may be waived by the parties. If you spot anything that looks incorrect, please drop us an email, and we'll get it sorted!www.inbrief.co.uk is wholly owned by Claims.co.uk Ltd. We are the UK's leading legal information website offering free information about the law, legal process and getting advice. The provenance of a document, for example, may be obscure and its author unknown, and yet the content of the document may be of considerable weight looking at all the circumstances of the case. Evidence is fundamental to the outcome of any civil litigation case because, ordinarily, the facts in issue in a case must be proved by evidence, and the judge will decide the case on the evidence adduced by the parties. Hearsay evidence Related Content A written or oral statement made otherwise than by a witness giving their own first-hand evidence in proceedings, which is tendered as evidence of the matters stated and which is relied on in court to prove the truth of the matters stated. The common law against hearsay, in general terms, prevents one person testifying to the truth of what they have been told by another person. In assessing weight, all the relevant circumstances must be considered.

The rules regarding hearsay evidence in civil cases is governed by the Civil Evidence Act 1995 (CEA 1995), which explicitly provides in s 1(1) that ‘in civil proceedings evidence shall not be excluded on the ground that it is hearsay’.Hearsay is defined in s 1(2) of CEA 1995 as: ‘…a statement made otherwise than by a person while giving oral evidence in the proceedings which is tendered as evidence of the matters stated.’Under s 5 of CEA 1995, hearsay is not admissible if the maker of the statement would not have been competent to be a witness, such as if they are too young , of unsound mind, or lack understanding.Under s 2 of CEA 1995, a party seeking to rely on hearsay evidence must provide a notice of proposal to adduce hearsay evidence. As such, we can't guarantee everything is 100% accurate. Hearsay evidence is now admissible in civil proceedings to a greater extent than in criminal proceedings, provided the correct procedures are followed. The rules in relation to hearsay evidence are contained in CEA 1995 and CPR 33. The hearsay rule is one of the oldest of the exclusionary rules in the law of evidence, having developed at the same time as the modern form of trial by jury.At common law, a witness who was testifying could not repeat either:An assertion is hearsay when it is tendered to establish the truth of that asserted. By using this website you agree that whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of the information provided on this website, we won't be held liable or responsible for any loss, damage or other inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within the pages of this website. It also allows evidence which aims to show that the maker of the original statement had contradicted themselves, either before or after they made the statement.Where a party adduces hearsay evidence of a statement made by a person and does not call that person as a witness, any other party to the proceedings may, with the leave of the court, call that person as a witness and cross-examine them on the statement as if they had been called by the first-mentioned party and as if the hearsay statement were their evidence in chief.A former solicitor, Nicola is also a fully qualified journalist. To view our latest legal guidance content, Hearsay is ‘a statement made otherwise than by a person while giving oral evidence in proceedings which is tendered as evidence of the matters stated’, as defined in both CEA 1995, s 1(2) and CPR 33.1. ... To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. For the past 20 years, she has worked as a legal journalist, editor and author.We try our very best to keep everything on this site accurate and up-to-date, but the law changes quite a bit and we've got over 1,300 pages to keep an eye on.

The CEA 1995 is replicated in Practice Direction 33.

You should take legal advice from a solicitor where appropriate.