Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

hearsay.

1. Traditionally, testimony that is given by a witness who relates not what he or she knows personally, but what others have said, and that is therefore dependent on the credibility of someone other than the witness. (ss Such testimony is generally inadmissible under the rules of evidence. 2. In federal law, a statement (either a verbal assertion or nonverbal assertive conduct), other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Fed. R. Evid. 801(c). -Also termed hearsay evidence; secondhand evidence.