Section 126 Evidence Act 2011
Section 126 Evidence Act 2011 is titled ‘Oral evidence must be direct‘. It is under Part VII (ORAL EVIDENCE AND THE INSPECTION OF REAL EVIDENCE) of the Act. It states as follows:
Subject to the provisions of Part III of this Act, oral evidence must, in all cases whatever, be direct –
(a) if it refers to a fact which could be seen, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he saw that fact;
(b) if it refers to a fact which could be heard, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he heard that fact;
(c) if it refers to a fact which could be perceived by any other sense or in any other manner, it must be the evidence of a witness who says he perceived that fact by that sense or in that manner;
(d) if it refers to an opinion or to the grounds on which that opinion is held, it must be the evidence of the person who holds that opinion on those grounds:
Provided that the opinions of experts expressed in any treatise commonly offered for sale, and the grounds on which such opinions are held, may be proved by the production of such treatise if the author is dead or cannot be found, or has become incapable of giving evidence, or cannot be called as a witness without an amount of delay or expense which the court regards as unreasonable.