THE

HEARSAY
RULE

THE HEARSAY RULE:

Testimonial Knowledge
Definitions:
1. Hearsay Rule: A witness can testify only to those
facts which he knows of his personal knowledge; that
is, which are derived from his own perception.
2. Hearsay oral testimony or documentary evidence
as to somebodys words or actions outside of court
where they are offered to prove the truth of the very
natters they assert; includes all assertions which have
not been subject to opportunity for cross-examination
by the adversary at the trial in which they are being

Reasons Why Hearsay is

Inadmissible:
1. The source of evidence is not before the
court to be cross-examined.
2. The statement made was not made under
oath or solemn affirmation.
3. The court must consider the personal
appearance and behavior of the witness in
evaluating his credibility.
Underlying this rule are serious concerns

Classification of Out-of-Court Statements

1. Hearsay those which are considered as hearsay
and therefore are inadmissible; this occurs when the
purpose for introducing the out-of-court statements is
to prove the truth of the acts asserted therein.
2. Non-Hearsay Those which are not considered legal
hearsay are admissible. This occurs when the purpose
of introducing the statements is not to prove the truth
of the facts asserted therein but only the making of the
statement, and are admissible in evidence when the
making of the statement is relevant.
These are the so-called independently relative

EXCEPTIONS TO THE
HEARSAY
RULE
:
Those which are hearsay
but
are
considered
as
exceptions to the hearsay
rule
and
are
therefore
admissible.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE
HEARSAY RULE :
g.
a. Dying
Entries
declaration
in the course
(Sec. 37)
of business
(Sec.
43)
b. Declaration
against interest (Sec. 38)
h.
official records
(Sec.
44)
c. Entries
Act orindeclaration
about
pedigree
i.
(Sec.
Commercial
39)
lists and the like (Sec. 45)
j.
d.Learned
Familytreatises
reputation
(Sec. 46)
or tradition
regarding
pedigree
k.
Business
records (Sec.
made40)
by electronic,
optical
e. Common
or other
reputation
similar(Sec.
means.
41) (Sec. 8,

(Sec. 37)Dying
quisites
for an Admissible of Dying Declarati
declaration
a. The statement concerns the crime and
surrounding circumstance of the declarants
death;
b. At the time it was made, the declarant
was under the consciousness of an
impending death;
c. The declarant would have been
competent as a witness had he survived;

(Sec. 37)Dying
declaration
The determination of
consciousness of impending
death
may come
from:
Important:
The admissibility
of an ante
1)
Utterances;
mortem declaration is not affected by
2)
Circumstances;
and
the fact that the declarant died hours or
3) Actualdays
character
several
afterandmaking
his
seriousnessItof is
his sufficient
wounds. that he
declaration.
believed himself in imminent danger of

(Sec. 37)Dying
declaration
Reasons
for admissibility
1) Necessity the declarants
death renders impossible his
taking the witness stand.
2) Trustworthiness The mind is
induced by the most powerful
consideration to speak the truth.

(Sec. 38)Declaration
against interest
Requisites:

1) the declarant is dead or unable to testify,

2) It relates to a fact against the interest of
the declarant,
3) At the time he made the declaration, the
declarant was aware that the same was
contrary to his aforesaid interest, and
4) The declarant had no motive to falsify
and believed such declaration to be true.

(Sec. 39)Act or
declaration about
pedigree
Definition:
Pedigree The history of family
descent which is transmitted
from one generation to another
by
both
oral
and
written
declarations and by traditions.

(Sec. 39)Act or
declaration about
pedigree
Requisites:
1) That declarant is dead or unable to
testify;
2) That pedigree is in issue;
3) That declarant be related to the person
whose pedigree is the subject of inquiry;
4) That such relationship be shown by
evidence other than the declaration; and
5) That the declaration was made ante

(Sec. 39)Act or
declaration about
pedigree
rth certificate as evidence of filiation:
It should be one which the
father intervened and which he
signed, an acknowledgement
that he is the father of the child.

(Sec. 39)Act or
declaration about
pedigree
Rule
Not Applicable to Adoption:
The absence of proof of an order of
adoption by the court, as provided by
the statute, cannot be substituted by
parol evidence that a child has lived
with a person, not his parent, and has
been treated as a child to establish
such adoption.

(Sec. 40)Family
reputation or
tradition regarding
Definition:
Family reputation such declarations and statements
pedigree
as have come down from generation to generation
from deceased relatives in such a way that even
though it cannot be said or determined which of the
deceased relative originally made them or was
personally cognizant of the facts stated therein, yet it
appears that such declarations and statements were
made as family history. Tradition knowledge, belief or
practices, transmitted orally from father to son, or from
ancestors to posterity.

(Sec. 40)Family
reputation or
Requisites:
tradition regarding
1) There is controversy in
pedigree

respect to the
pedigree of any members of the family;
2) The reputation or tradition of the pedigree of
the person concerned existed previous to the
controversy; and
3) The witness testifying to the reputation or
tradition regarding the pedigree of the person
concerned must be a member of the family of

(Sec. 40)Family
reputation or
tradition
regarding
Entries in family bibles or other family
pedigree
books or charts, engraving on rings,
family portraits and the like, may be
received as evidence of pedigree.
Note: The reputation is the one known
in the family circles and not in the
community, except the reputation with

ec. 41)Common reputation

Definition:
Reputation the common report which others
make about him, the talk about him that shows
the opinion in which he is held in the community;
the sum or composite of the impressions
spontaneously made by him from time to time,
and in one way or another, upon his neighbors
and acquaintances.
Common Reputation the prevailing belief in the
community as to the existence of a certain fact
or aggregation of facts.

ec. 41)Common reputation

Matters which May be
Established by Common
Reputation:
1) Facts of public or general
interest more than 30 years old,
2) Marriage and related facts, and
3) Individuals moral character

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Definition:
Res Gestae literally means transactions or
things done; refers to those exclamations
and statements
made
by
either
the
participants, victims, or spectators to a crime
immediately before, during or immediately
after the commission of the crime, when the
circumstances are such that the statements
were made as a spontaneous reaction or
utterance inspired by the excitement of the

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Classification of Res Gestae

1) Spontaneous exclamations, and
2) Contemporaneous statements or
verbal acts

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Spontaneous Statement;
Definition:
A statement or exclamation made
immediately
after
some
exciting
occasion by a participant or spectator
and asserting the circumstances of that
occasion as it is observed by him.

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Spontaneous Statement;
Requisites:
a) There must be a startling occurrence;
b) The statement is spontaneous, made immediately
before, during or after a startling occurrence; and
c) It relates to the circumstances of such occurrence.
The rule of res gestae applies
when the declarant himself did
not testify; hence, it does not
apply where the declarant took
the witness stand to testify.

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Factors to consider in determining
whether the statement is
spontaneous
a) The time thator
hasnot:
elapsed between the occurrence of the
act or transaction and the making of the statement.
b) The place where the statement was made.
c) The condition of the declarant when he made the
statement.
d) The presence or absence of intervening occurrences
between the occurrence and the statement relative thereto.
e) The nature and circumstances of the statement itself.

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Verbal Acts; Definition/Requisites:

Utterances which accompany some act or
conduct to which it is desired to give a legal
effect.
a) Act or occurrence characterized must be
equivocal;
b) Verbal acts must characterize or explain
the equivocal act;
c) Equivocal act must be relevant to the

ec. 42)Part of the res gestae

Equivocal
AnAct
act that is ambiguous.
Dying
Declaration
may
be
Regarded as Part of the Res
Gestae:
Even if a statement is not
admissible as a dying declaration,
the same may still be admitted as

(Sec.43)Entries
in the course of
In the Ordinary Course of Business
business

means that the entries have been

made regularly in the management of
the business.
Reason:
To afford sufficient probability that the
facts are as stated in the memorandum

(Sec.43)Entries
in the course of
Requisites:
business
3)
Entries must
must have
1) Entries
have been
been made
made by
at
entrant
his time
professional
or in
or nearinthe
of the capacity
transaction,
the
performance
of his duty;
to which
they refer;
4) Entries were made in the ordinary or
2) Entrant
have orbeen
a
regular
coursemust
of business
duties;inand
position
know
facts stated
in
5)
Entranttomust
be the
deceased
or unable

the entries;

c. 44)Entries in official records

Requisites:
1) That the entry was made by a public
officer or by another person specially
enjoined by law to do so;
2) That it was made by the public officer in
the performance of his duties, or by such
other person in the performance of a duty
specially enjoined by law; and
3) That the public officer or other person
had sufficient knowledge of the facts by

(Sec. 45)Commercial lists

and the like
Requisites:
1) Statements of matters of interest to persons
engaged in an occupation;
2) Statements must be contained in a list,
register, periodical or other published compilation;
3) Compilation is published for use by persons
engaged in that occupation;
4) Is generally relied upon by them therein.
A report in a newspaper account is not a
commercial list. At most, it is an analysis or

(Sec. 46)Learned
treatises

Basis:
The Alabama Rule
standard medical treatises and
works are admissible in so far as
they are relevant to the issues in the
particular case.

(Sec. 46)Learned
treatises

Requisites:

a. That the court take judicial notice that the

writer of the statement in the treatise, periodical
or pamphlet is recognized in his profession or
calling as expert in the subject, or
b. A witness, expert in the subject, testifies that
the writer of the statement in the treatise,
periodical or pamphlet is recognized in his
profession or calling as expert in the subject.

electronic,
optical or other similar
means.
(Sec.
8,
Rules
on
Requisites:
Electronic
Evidence)
1) A
report,
recordcourse
or data,
4)
It memorandum,
was kept in the
regular
or

compilation
of business
acts, events,
conditions,
opinions,
conduct
of a
activity,
and such
was
or diagnoses
by electronic,
opticalthe
or
the
regularis made
practice
to
make
other
similar
means;
memorandum, report, record, or data
2) It was made
or near the
time of
from
compilation
by at
electronic,
optical
or or
similar
transmission
or
supply
of
information;
means; and

Sec. 47: Testimony or

deposition at a former
proceeding.

Former Testimony
testimony which has been adduced at
an earlier proceeding; may be classified as
an exception to the hearsay prohibition, or
it may be considered as non-hearsay
under the theory that the requirements of
the hearsay concept have been met.

Sec. 47: Testimony or

deposition at a former
proceeding.
Rules:

a. The witness whose testimony is offered in

evidence is dead or unable to testify;
b. Identity of parties;
c. Identity of issues; and
d.
Opportunity
of
cross-examination
of
witnesses.
1) This rule embraces judicial or administrative
proceedings.

THE
END