THE

ct

LAW OF EVIDENCE,

AS

ADMINISTERED IN ENGLAND,

AND

APPLIED TO INDIA.

BY

JOSEPH GOODEVE, Esq.,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE AND LINCOLN'S-INN, BARRISTER, ACTING MASTER OF THE SUPREME COURT OF
CALCUTTA, MEMBER OF SENATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA, AND LECTURER ON LAW
AND EQUITY IN PRESIDENCY COLLEGE.

THACKER, SPINK AND CO.

LONDON:-V. C. R. STEVENS & SONS, AND W. THACKER & CO.

1862.

[The Copyright and right of Translation are reserved.]

N

:

PREFACE.

THE aim of the author in the composition of the present work, is to combine an exposition of the principles which constitute the foundation of the Law of Evidence, the subject of the Treatise, with the practical development of the Law; and to render the work useful alike to the Student and the Practitioner.

It addresses itself more particularly to India. But the English Law of Evidence is the basis of that of India; --so that what is explained is in fact the Law of Evidence as administered in the Courts of England; with those occasional modifications which have been introduced by Indian legislation. Some subjects of English law, indeed, are matters of mere local application, and these are omitted accordingly.

The Analysis which precedes the body of the work will be found to exhibit, at a glance, a summary of its entire contents; while this will at the same time prove a useful adjunct to the Index;—for which, indeed, it is in part substitutional.

Considering the number and the ability of the already existing Treatises on the English Law of Evidence, some apology might, at first sight, appear required for the obtrusion of a new work on the subject; and the author is too conscious of the superiority of those works to his own, not to feel, that were this treatise intended only for English readers, he was unduly entering on a field already amply occupied. It appeared to him, however, that while English Treatises were, of course, silent as to the peculiarities of the Indian system, there was much in them of a local character only; which, while it added to the bulk of the volume, added nothing to an elucidation of principle. Indeed, even as regards principle, the extended illustration of this by the varied, and often lengthened statement of cases, which swells the text of most English books on the same subject, however applicable to England, is felt to be somewhat redundant in reference to the simpler requisitions of India; and the elaborate enumeration, found in the foot-notes of English books, of the cases from which the propositions of the text are deduced, while