A fiqhi and statutary study on the necessity of maturity and faith of witness Authors

In cases of appealing to testimony، maturity and faith of the witness are among the conditions which are considered as necessary according to the consensus of Imami jurists and explicit statement of law through article 1313 of Civil Code and article 155 of the procedure of the public and revolution courts in the Criminal affairs. But: 1. contrary to the explicit statement of jurists and point 1 of article 1210 of C. C.، on the age of puberty (15 lunar years for males and 9 for women)، article 1314 of C. C. has necessitated age of 15 for the witness and hence has questioned the testimony of female witnesses aged between 9 to 15. 2. In jurisprudence، the testimony of 10 year old discriminating-minor boy is exceptionally accepted in cases of murder and injury. However، in law، despite a reference in the rest of article 1314 to the possibility of exception، the exceptional cases have been left unidentified. Therefore، some relate it to female witnesses aged between 9 to 15; in order to remove the contradiction of point 1 of article 1210 and article 1314 of Civil Code. 3. From the viewpoint of the Imamiyyah jurists، faith means believing in Twelver-Imam Shiism.; however، lack of limiting faith exclusively to Twelver-Imam Shiism in articles 1313 and 155، has caused some scholars to interpret faith as contrasted with disbelief، which is not correct.