https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearsay
Hearsay evidence, in a legal forum, is testimony from an under-oath witness who is reciting an out-of-court statement, the content of which is being offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. In most courts, hearsay evidence is inadmissible (the "hearsay evidence rule") unless an exception to the hearsay rule applies.
It is forbidden to give false testimony or testimony based on hearsay, as it says “You shall not answer against your friend as a false witness”.2
Testimony cannot be accepted from women, children, or persons who are blind or not in full possession of their mental faculties; from sinners [as it says “You shall not set your hand with an evil man to be a wicked witness”7]; from ignoramuses unless they are known to be righteous; from relatives [as it says “Fathers shall not die because of sons”8]; or from persons who could derive benefit from the verdict. (All such persons are also disqualified from being judges. A proselyte, an old man, a eunuch, a person blind in one eye, a bastard, and a friend or enemy of the defendant are also disqualified from being judges in capital cases.) Testimony must be given orally; but in purely monetary matters (not involving fines) written testimony can be accepted.
The Establishment of a Rule Against Hearsay in
Romano-Canonical Procedure
By the thirteenth
century. Continental jurists enshrined in law a deliberate value
judgment that rested on the authority of much older Roman and
canonical texts: hearsay should be rejected regardless of who the
factfinder is, because a reliable verdict must be based on first-hand
testimony at trial, subject to testing before the factfinder. The English jury system may provide a means to assure enforcement of the
English hearsay bar, but the rejection of hearsay does not depend
upon the jury for its rationale or for its origin in \Vestem legal
culture.
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