Section 258 Evidence Act 2011
Section 258 Evidence Act 2011 is titled ‘Interpretation‘. It is under Part XVI (MISCELLANEOUS AND SUPPLEMENTAL) of the Act. It states as follows:
(1) In this Act, unless where the context otherwise requires –
“Bank” or “banker” means a bank licensed under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 1991 and includes anybody authorised under an enactment to carry on banking business;
“banker’s books” (and related expressions) includes ledgers, day – books, cash – books, account books and all other books used in banking business whether kept in the written form or as printouts of data stored electronically;
“Banking business” has the meaning assigned to it in the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act;
“The Constitution” means the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999;
“Copy of a document” includes –
(a) in the case of a document falling within paragraph (b) but not (c) of the definition of “document” in this subsection, a transcript of the sounds or other data embodied in it;
(b) in the case of a document falling within paragraph (b) but not (c) of that definition, a reproduction or still reproduction of the image or images embodied in it whether enlarged or not;
(c) in the case of a document falling within both those paragraphs, such a transcript together with such a still reproduction; and
(d) in the case of a document not falling within the said paragraph (c) of which a visual image is embodied in a document falling within that paragraph, a reproduction of that image, whether enlarged on not,
(e) and any reference to a copy of the material part of a document shall be construed accordingly;
“computer” means any device for storing and processing information, and any reference to information being derived from other information is a reference to its being derived from it by calculation, comparison or any other process;
“Court” includes all judges and magistrates and, except arbitrators, all persons legally authorised to take evidence;
“Custom” is a rule which, in a particular district, has, from long usage, obtained the force of law;
“Document” includes –
(a) books, maps, plans, graphs, 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;
(b) any disc, tape, sound track or other device in which sounds or other data (not being visual images) are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced from it,
(c) any film, negative, tape or other device in which one or more visual images are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced from it; and
(d) any device by means of which information is recorded, stored or retrievable including computer output.
“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, non – existence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding necessarily follows;
“Film” includes a microfilm;
“Financial institution” has the meaning assigned to “other financial institution” by the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 1991
“Person interested” means any person likely to be personally affected by the outcome of a proceeding;
“Public service of the Federation or of a State” has the meaning assigned in the Constitution; and “public officer” shall be construed accordingly;
“real evidence” means anything other than testimony admissible hearsay or a document the contents of which are offered as evidence of a fact at a trial, which is examined by the court as a means of proof of such fact;
“Statement” includes any representation of fact whether made in words or otherwise;
“Wife” and “husband” mean respectively the wife and husband of a marriage validly contracted under the Marriage Act, or under Islamic law or a Customary law applicable in Nigeria, and includes any marriage recognised as valid under the Marriage Act.
(2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a section or other provision of the Criminal Code Act or the Criminal Procedure Act shall, as the case may be, be construed as including a reference to the corresponding section or provision of the Criminal Code Law or Penal Code Law or the Criminal Procedure Code Law of a State or, in respects of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the Penal Code Act or the Criminal Procedure Code Act, whichever may be appropriate.