ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the admissibility of the accused’s previous good or bad character in evidence. As a starting point, it is worth underlining that the rules relating to this topic are clouded by a number of definitional issues. For the most part, as far as its usage within the law of evidence is concerned, ‘character’ refers to the tendency of a person to act, think or feel in a particular way. ‘Disposition’ and ‘propensity’ are alternative terms with the same meaning, andyouwill find that they arewidely used in case lawand academic commentary on the subject. Thus, a person with previous convictions for violence may be described as being of a ‘violent disposition’ or having a ‘propensity towards violence’,whereas someone of good character may be described as ‘a person of integrity’.
