OF THE RELEVANCY OF

FACTS
Section-(5 to 16)
 Facts
• "Fact" means and includes--
• (1) any thing, state of things, or relation of
things, capable of being perceived by the
senses;
• (2) any mental condition of which any
person is conscious.
 Illustrations

• (a) That there are certain objects arranged

in a certain order in a certain place, is a fact.
• (b) That a man heard or saw something, is a
fact.
• (c) That a man said certain words, is a fact.
• (d) That a man holds a certain opinion, has a
certain intention, acts in good faith or
fraudulently, or uses a particular word in a
particular sense, or is or was at a specified
time conscious of a particular sensation, is a
fact.
• (e) That a man has a certain reputation, is a
fact.
 Things
• Things which are capable of being perceived
by human senses like,
• Sound
• Touch
• Vision
• Taste
• Smell.
 Classification of Facts
• Physical and psychological facts
• Clause (1) refers to things that can be
perceived by senses. This can be referred to
physical facts. These are also called external
facts.
• Clause (2) refers to mental condition of
which any person is conscious. This refers
to psychological facts. These are also called
internal facts.
 Contd…
• Physical facts like material objects, sounds,
smells etc, can be felt by others but
psychological facts like intention, ill will,
hatred etc can only be felt by person who is
entertaining those feelings and not by
others unless those internal feelings are
manifested through expressions or actions
by that person.
 Contd…
• Positive and negative facts:
• Presence or existence of a fact is positive
fact and its absence or non- existence is
negative fact.
• It is easier to prove existence of a fact than
its non-existence.
 Contd…
• Primary and secondary facts:
• From primary fact inferences can be drawn.
Cogent and consistent chain of sequential
inferences of secondary facts from primary
facts can make up credible circumstantial
evidence.
 "Relevant"
• One fact is said to be relevant to another
when the one is connected with the other in
any of the ways referred to in the provisions
of this Act relating to the relevancy of facts.
 "Facts in issue"
• The expression "facts in issue" means and
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.
 Explanation

• Whenever, under the provisions of the law

for the time being in force relating to Civil
Procedure, any Court records an issue of
fact, the fact to be asserted or denied in the
answer to such issue is a fact in issue.
 Illustrations
• A is accused of the murder of B.
• At his trial the following facts may be in issue:-
• that A caused B's death;
• that A intended to cause B's death;
• that A had received grave and sudden provocation
from B;
• that A, at the time of doing the act which caused
B's death, was, by reason of unsoundness of mind,
incapable of knowing its nature.
 Phipson says
• A fact in issue is one which is directly in
contention between the parties, i.e., one
which the plaintiff must establish to win his
case, or which the defendant must establish
to succeed in some defence which is open to
him.
 Introduction to section 5
• Section 165, which confers on the judge
enormous power to elicit the truth by
putting any question, relevant or irrelevant
at any time, of any witness, in any form, or
order production of any document etc, still
mandates that the “judgement must be
based upon facts declared by this Act to be
relevant, and duly proved.”
 Sir James Stephen
• The most universal rule of evidence is that
the evidence adduced should be alike
directed and confined to the matters which
are in dispute. Anything not directly
connected is irrelevant.
• Thus, evidence of all collateral facts, which
are incapable of affording any reasonable
presumption as to the principal matters in
dispute, are excluded to save public time.
 Evidence may be given of facts in
issue and relevant facts-(section 5)

• Evidence may be given in any suit or

proceeding of the existence of non-
existence of every fact in issue and of
such other facts as are hereinafter
declared to be relevant, and of no
others.
 Explanation

• This section shall not enable any

person to give evidence of a fact which
he is disentitled to prove by any
provision of the law for the time being
in force relating to Civil Procedure.
 Illustrations
• (a) A is tried for the murder of В by beating
him with a club with the intention of
causing his death.
• At A’s trial the following facts are in issue:—
• A’s beating В with the club;
• A’s causing B’s death by such beating;
• A’s intention to cause B’s death.
 Illustrations

• (b) A suitor does not bring with him, and

have in readiness for production at the first
hearing of the case a bond on which he
relies. This section does not enable him to
produce the bond or prove its contents at a
subsequent stage of the proceedings,
otherwise than in accordance with the
conditions prescribed by the Code of Civil
Procedure.
 Two leading principles on
relevance
• 1) that nothing is to be received which is not
logically probative of some matter requiring
to be proved; and
• 2) that everything which is thus probative
should come in, unless a clear ground of
policy or law excludes it. Relevancy exists as
a relation between an item of evidence and
a proposition sought to be proved.
 Contd…
• The section lays down that in a suit or
preceding evidence may be given of the
existence or non-existence of:
• 1. Facts which are in issue; and
• 2. Facts which are relevant according to
Sections 6 to 55 of the Act.
 Case law
• In an American case of Knapp v. State, the
rule of law stated by the court was that “the
determination of the relevancy of a
particular item of evidence rests on whether
proof of that evidence would reasonably
tend to help resolve the primary issue at
trial.
• Relevant facts give strength and vigour to
the fact in issue.
• This section expressly excludes the evidence
of irrelevant facts, that is found in the
phrase “and of no others;”and therefore a
party is precluded from proving any ‘fact’
which is not declared relevant by any of the
remaining sections of this chapter.
 Logic and legal relevancy
• Relevancy means “ relation of something to
the matter at hand”, “ pertinence”,
“materiality” etc.
 logical relevancy
• A fact is said to be logically relevant to
another when it bears such a casual relation
with the other as to render probable the
existence or non-existence of the latter.
• If one fact is connected to the other logically,
it is called logical relevancy.
 Factors for logical relevancy
• Cause and effect
• Occurrence at the same time (unity of time)
• Occurrence at the same place ( unity of
place)
• Common purpose and design; etc.
 Legal relevancy
• Facts legally relevant under the Evidence
Act means, simply, facts declared to be
relevant under sections 6 to 55 and this is a
part of the legislative and not judicial
determination.
 Relation b/w logic and legal
relevancy
• All facts which are logically relevant are not
legally relevant.
• Whatever is legally relevant is logically
relevant.
• However only legally relevant facts are
considered as relevant facts.
 Relevancy and Admissibility
• Admissibility means that the facts which are
relevant are eligible for consideration by the
court.
• While the rules relating to relevancy lay
down what is included, rules relating to
admissibility lay down what is excluded.
• Admissibility is not based on logic but on
law and strict rules.
 Contd…
• All admissible evidence is usually relevant
but all relevant evidence is not admissible.
• All facts which are allowed by the provisions
of the Evidence Act to be proved are
relevant; but, however relevant fact may be,
unless it is allowed to be proved by
provisions of the Act, it is not admissible.
 Contd…
• Relevancy means, ’what facts may be proved
before a court’.
• The admissibility is the means and the
method of proving the relevant facts. When
the original document is lost it has no effect
on decision. If the secondary evidence of the
lost document is produced it may be
admitted.
• Relevancy is the genus of which
admissibility is a species.
 Contd…
• ‘Relevancy,’ according to Sections 6 to 11 is
the connection between cause and effect
which occur in judicial proceedings. The
question of admissibility, on the other hand,
is a question of law to be decided by the
judge.
 Contd…
• The relevancy of facts, according to common
course of events either leads to prove or
render probable the past, present and future
existence and non-existence of the other
facts, whereas the admissibility of the
relevant facts are to be decided (forthwith)
by the court when raised and should not be
reserved till the date of judgment. Objection
to the admissibility cannot be allowed in
appeal.
 Contd…
• In relevancy the court has discretion to play
but in admissibility the court is under
obligation to follow the law, it has no
discretion.
• Evidence properly admitted for one purpose
must be admissible for all purposes in the
cause. But in case of proving and disproving
facts the relevancy is, no doubt, condition
precedent of admissibility.
 In Ram Bihari Yadav v State of Bihar

• the Supreme Court has made a difference

that frequently the expression ‘relevancy’
and ‘admissibility’ are used as being
synonymous with each other but their legal
incidents are different, because facts which
are relevant may not be admissible. It is a
question of law to be determined by lex fori.
In judicial proceeding ‘relevancy’ is “the
rules of allowing or disallowing the facts
tried to be proved.”
 Section 136-Judge to decide as to
admissibility of evidence

• When either party proposes to give

evidence of any fact, the Judge may ask the
party proposing to give the evidence in what
manner the alleged fact, if proved, would be
relevant; and the Judge shall admit the
evidence if he thinks that the fact, if proved,
would be relevant, and not otherwise.
• If the fact proposed to be proved is one of
which evidence is admissible only upon
proof of some other fact, such last-
mentioned fact must be proved before
evidence is given of the fact first mentioned,
unless the party undertakes to give proof of
such fact, and the Court is satisfied with
such undertaking.
• If the relevancy of one alleged fact depends
upon another alleged fact being first proved,
the Judge may, in his discretion, either
permit evidence of the first fact to be given
before the second fact is proved, or require
evidence to be given of the second fact
before evidence is given of the first fact.
 illustrations
• (a) It is proposed to prove a statement
about a relevant fact by a person alleged to
be dead, which statement is relevant under
section 32.
• The fact that the person is dead must be
proved by the person proposing to prove the
statement, before evidence is given of the
statement.
 Illustrations
• (b) It is proposed to prove, by a copy, the
contents of a document said to be lost.
• The fact that the original is lost must be
proved by the person proposing to produce
the copy, before the copy is produced.
• (c) A is accused of receiving stolen property
knowing it to have been stolen.
• It is proposed to prove that he denied the
possession of the property.
• The relevancy of the denial depends on the
identity of the property. The Court may, in
its discretion, either require the property to
be identified before the denial of the
possession is proved, or permit the denial of
the possession to be proved before the
property is identified.ng it to have been
stolen.
 Illustrations
• (d) It is proposed to prove a fact (A) which
is said to have been the cause or effect of
fact in issue. There are several intermediate
facts (B, C and D) which must be shown to
exist before the fact (a) can be regarded as
the cause or effect of the fact in issue. The
Court may either permit A to be proved
before B, C or D is proved, or may require
proof of B, C and D before permitting proof
of A.
 Section 136
• The court is to decide the question of
admissibility of an evidence.
• Admissibility is a quality standing between
relevancy ( or probative value) on the one
hand and proof ( or weight of evidence) on
the other hand.
 Contd…
• A fact may be relevant but proof of it may be
such as is not allowed in the case of hearsay
rule (e.g., statements made out of courts;
witness asserts and the accused said ‘so and
so’).
• Thus, oral statements which are hearsay
may be relevant, are but not admissible.
 Contd…
• Admissibility has nothing to do with
relevancy or probative value.
• Admissibility is a matter of legal policy.
• It is a question of law to be determined by
lex fori.
 Applicability of ‘falsus in uno
falsus omnibus’
• The meaning of the maxim is that “false in
one thing false is everything.” It is not rule of
law. It is only a rule of caution. It is of no
application in India under the Evidence Act.
Each case has to be apprised in accordance
with evidence produced before the court. If
the evidence is insufficient and unworthy of
acceptance it must be discarded in all
respect.
 Contd…
• The doctrine is dangerous one specially in
India for if a whole body of the testimony
were to be rejected, because witness was
evidently speaking an untruth in some
respect, it is to be found that administration
of Criminal Justice would come to dead stop.
 Contd..
• “It is true that the principle falsus unofolsus
omnibus is not a rule applicable to our
country and the court should make every
endeavour to separate the grain from the
chaff. It only puts the court on its guard to
carefully scrutinize their evidence.”
 Section 6
• Relevancy of facts forming part of same
transaction.-Facts which, though not in
issue, are so connected with a fact in issue
as to form part of the same transaction, are
relevant, whether they occurred at the same
time and place or at different times and
places.
 Illustrations
• (a) A is accused of the murder of B by
beating him. Whatever was said or done by
A or B or the by-standers at the beating, or
so shortly before or after it as to form part
of the transaction, is a relevant fact.
 Contd…
• (b) A is accused of waging war against the
[Government of India] by taking part in an
armed insurrection in which property is
destroyed, troops are attacked and goals are
broken open. The occurrence of these facts
is relevant, as forming part of the general
transaction, though A may not have been
present at all of them.
 Contd…
• (c) A sues B for a libel contained in a letter
forming part of a correspondence. Letters
between the parties relating to the subject
out of which the libel arose, and forming
part of the correspondence in which it is
contained, are relevant facts, though they do
not contain the libel itself.
 Contd…
• (d) The question is, whether certain goods
ordered from B were delivered to A. The
goods were delivered to several
intermediate persons successively. Each
delivery is a relevant fact.
 Res gestae

• Forming part of same transactions are

described by English and American writers
as being part of res gestae, i.e., things done
in the course of a transaction.
• Res gestae is a Latin phrase means "the
thing done".
 Contd…
• Res Gestae is an exception to the rule
against hearsay evidence.
• Res gestae is based on the belief that
because certain statements are made
naturally, spontaneously and without
deliberation during the course of an
event, thus the courts believe that such
statements carry a high degree of credibility.
 Contd…
• The term res gestae is equivalent to the facts
mentioned in section 6.
• However, it is also used in the following
senses:
– As equivalent to fact in issue
– As equivalent to details of facts in issue
– Fact in issue and surrounding circumstances
 Contd…
• Taylor defines res gestae as including
everything that may be fairly considered as
an incident of the event under
consideration.
• Res gestae are those circumstances which
are instinctive (automatic) and undersigned
incidents of a particular act.
• They are the acts talking for themselves not
what people say when talking about the acts.
 Contd…
• Circumstantial facts are admitted as forming
part of res gestae, i.e., as being part of
original proof of what has taken place.
• Statement may also accompany physical
happenings.
• For example, an injured person, is naturally
bound to cry.
The following criteria must be fulfilled before a
statement can be admitted into evidence under
section 6:

• 1. The statement must explain, elucidate

(clarify/explain) or characterize the
incident in some manner.
• 2. The statement must be spontaneous or
contemporaneous and not a mere narrative
of a past event.
 Contd…
• 3. The statement is a statement of fact and
not of opinion.
• 4. The statement must have been made
either by a participant in the transaction or
by a person who has himself witnessed the
transaction.
 Contd…
• 5. The statement made by a by-stander
would be relevant only if it is shown that he
was present at the time of the happening of
the event and has witnessed the same.
 Agassiz v. London Tramways Co.
(1872) 21 WR 199
• There was a tram collision and an action was
brought against the tramway Co, in respect of the
injury to a passenger.
• A remark by another passenger to the effect that
the driver ought to be reported and the
conductor’s reply, “ He has already been reported
for he has been off the line 5 or 6 times today”
were rejected, the transaction was over, and as the
remarks referred not to the res, but to the past acts
of the driver.
 Ratten v. R [1972] AC 378
• The appellant was convicted of the murder
of his wife by shooting her with a shotgun.
• His defence was that the gun had discharged
accidentally while he was cleaning it.
• To rebut that defence, the prosecutor called
for the evidence of a telephone operator,
who stated that shortly before the time of
the shooting, she had received a call from
the address where the deceased lived with
her husband.
• The witness said that the call was from a
female, who in a sobbing voice and
hysterical state said, “Get me the police,
please!” and gave the address, but before
she could make the connection to the police
station, the caller hung up.
• Held: Evidence would have been admissible
as part of the res gestae because not only
was there a close association in place and
time between the statement and the
shooting, but also the way in which the
statement came to be made, in a call for the
police and the tone of voice used showed
intrinsically that the statement was being
forced from the wife by an overwhelming
pressure of contemporary events.
The issue of the word “bystander”
• The word ‘bystanders’ in illustration (a),
Section 6 refers to persons who were
actually present at the time of the
occurrence of an event.
• Illustration (a) A. is accused of the murder
of B. by beating him. Whatever was said or
done by A. or B. or the bystanders at the
beating or so shortly before or after it as to
form part of the transaction is a relevant
fact.
 Sawal Das v State AIR 1974 729
• There was a problem with a dowry, where
there was a fight and the wife said “Bachao!
Bachao!” and wife was eventually killed. The
children and bystander heard it. The
repeated statement was objected because of
hearsay.
• H: that the statement uttered spontaneously
relevant under section 6.
Section-7