HEARSAY RULE AND ITS EXCEPTIONS IN COMMON LAW WITH A COMPARATIVE VIEW TO IRANIAN LAW

Hearsay in Common Law, is a statement made out-of-court and offered in court as evidence to prove the truth of the assertion made in the statement. The hearsay rule states that hearsay is not admissible unless provided by exceptions in the Rules of Evidence or courts’ precedents. The test for determining hearsay is whether a statement was made out of court and is being offered in order to prove what is being asserted in the statement. The aim of hearsay rule is to protect the jury from hearing unreliable out of court statements as evidence. However, exceptions have developed over the years, taking into account the circumstances surrounding such statements. But, resulting from developments of last decade of 20th century, UK parliament has abolished the hearsay rule and nowadays hearsays could be admitted by satisfying the other evidentiary rules.