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Hearsay is a legal term. In the courtroom, witnesses from both sides are examined and cross-examined by both the prosecution (or plaintiff in civil cases) and the defense (or defendant). When a witness says that someone else who was not under oath and/or cannot be cross-examined by the opposition (called the deferrant), has said something, it is called hearsay.

Although there are exeptions to the rule, hearsay is not allowed in the courtroom to prove that what the deferrant said was true, because he/she was not under oath and there is no way for the opposition to test the truth of the matter. It can only be used to prove that the deferrant said it.

For example, we have a witness named Bob. We ask him if he saw the defendant, John, blow up his neighbor's house. Bob says, "No, but Tom said that he saw John buy explosives." In this case, the defense attourney stands up and says "Objection, Your Honor. Witness is using hearsay." The judge would sustain it and the evidence would not be allowed. However, if we wanted to prove that Tom could speak English, this evidence would be admissable, or allowed.

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First answer by Crtclev. Last edit by Crtclev. Contributor trust: 109 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 0 [recommend question]

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