Section 2: Key Definitions Under Uganda's Evidence Act
2.Interpretation
(1)In this Act, the following words and expressions are used in the following senses, unless a contrary intention appears from the context—
"court" includes all judges, magistrates, jurors and assessors and all persons, except arbitrators, legally authorised to take evidence;
"currency point" has the value assigned to it in the Schedule to this Act;
"document" means any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than one of those means, intended to be used, or which may be used, for the purpose of recording that matter;
"documentary evidence" means all documents produced for the inspection of the court;
"evidence" denotes the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is proved or disproved and includes statements by accused persons, admissions, judicial notice, presumptions of law, and ocular observation by the court in its judicial capacity;
"fact" means and includes—
(a)any thing, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being perceived by the senses; and
(b)any mental condition of which any person is conscious;
"fact 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 that issue is a fact in issue.
"monogamous marriage" means a marriage which is by law necessarily monogamous and binding during the lifetime of both parties unless dissolved by a valid judgment of a court;
"oral evidence" means all statements which the court permits or requires to be made before it by witnesses, in relation to matters of fact under inquiry.
(2)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.
(3)A fact is said to be proved when, after considering the matters before it, the court either believes it to exist, or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, in the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it exists.
(4)A fact is said to be disproved when, after considering the matters before it, the court either believes that it does not exist, or considers its non-Âexistence so probable that a prudent man ought, in the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does not exist.
(5)A fact is said not to be proved when it is neither proved nor disproved.
Plain English Summary
You must understand these definitions to know how evidence rules apply. The Act defines key terms like 'court' (including judges, magistrates, jurors,...
AI-generated, for reference only.
Searching within THE EVIDENCE ACT only. Faster results.