ABSTRACT
Historically, the common law placed a number of restrictions on who could be called to give evidence in both civil and criminal cases. In addition, rules also developed as to when a witness could be legally obliged to testify, under threat of punishment in the event that they failed to do so. This chapter examines the rules relating to competence and compellability of witnesses. The term ‘competency’ is concerned with who may lawfully testify as a witness, whereas the term ‘compellability’ is concerned with who may be lawfully obliged to testify. Both are matters of law to be resolved by the trial judge prior to the witness giving evidence.
