Singapore legislation
Clause 6
Clause 6
New sections 32A, 32B and 32C
The Evidence Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 32, the following sections:“Protest, greeting, etc., treated as stating fact that utterance implies32A. For the purposes of section 32(1), a protest, greeting or other verbal utterance may be treated as stating any fact that the utterance implies.Statement of opinion32B.—
Subject to this section, section 32 applies to statements of opinion as they apply to statements of fact.(2) A statement of opinion shall only be admissible under section 32(1) if that statement would be admissible in those proceedings if made through direct oral evidence.(3) Where a person is called as a witness in any proceedings, a statement of opinion by him on a relevant matter on which he is not qualified to give expert evidence, if made as a way of conveying relevant facts personally perceived by him, is admissible as evidence of what he perceived.Admissibility of evidence as to credibility of maker, etc., of statement admitted under certain provisions32C.—
Where in any proceedings a statement made by a person who is not called as a witness in those proceedings is given in evidence by virtue of section 32(1) —
any evidence which, if that person had been so called, would be admissible for the purpose of undermining or supporting that person’s credibility as a witness, is admissible for that purpose in those proceedings; and
as regards any matter which, if that person had been so called, could have been put to him in cross-examination for the purpose of undermining his credibility as a witness, being a matter of which, if he had denied it, evidence could not have been adduced by the cross-examining party, evidence of that matter may with the leave of the court be given for that purpose.(2) Where in any proceedings a statement made by a person who is not called as a witness in those proceedings is given in evidence by virtue of section 32(1), evidence tending to prove that, whether before or after he made that statement, he made another statement (orally, written or otherwise) inconsistent with the first-mentioned statement is admissible for the purpose of showing that he has contradicted himself.(3) For the purposes of section 32(1)(b), subsections (1) and (2) apply in relation to both the maker of the statement and the person who originally supplied the information from which the statement was made.(4) Section 32(2) applies for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of section 32(1).”.