ABSTRACT
Section 1(2) of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 defines hearsay, for the purposes of that Act, 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’. That definition is, in effect, adopted in s 114(1) of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) 2003, which states, ‘In criminal proceedings a statement not made in oral evidence in the proceedings is admissible as evidence of any matter stated if, but only if . . .’, and then goes on to set out the circumstances in which such evidence will be admissible.
