In the law of evidence, a credible witness is a person making testimony in a court or other tribunal, or acting otherwise as a witness, whose credibility is unimpeachable. A witness may have more or less credibility, or no credibility at all. In the common law system, the term 'credible witness' may be used generally, to refer to testimony, or for the witnessing of certain documents.
Contents
Several factors affect witnesses' credibility. A credible witness is "competent to give evidence, and is worthy of belief." Generally, a witness is deemed to be credible if they are recognized (or can be recognized) as a source of reliable information about someone, an event, or a phenomenon.
Testifying in court
In a wide variety of cases that use the rules of evidence, testimony must be given by credible witnesses.
In Scottish law, a credible witness is one "whose credibility commends itself to the presiding magistrate ... the trustworthiness" of whom is good.
In English law, a credible witness is one who is not "speaking from hearsay." In English:
Credible seems here to be used in the way that people have employed it ever since it appeared in the English language in the fourteenth century: of something that is convincing or is capable of being believed. (It came from Latin credibilis, worthy of being believed, from the verb credere, to believe.)
In the United States, such a witness is "more than likely to be true based on his/her experience, knowledge, training and appearance of honesty and forthrightness...." Some factors for determining the credibility of testimony in U.S. courts include: (1) the witness had personal knowledge, (2) he or she was actually present at the scene, (3) the witness paid attention at the scene, and (4) he or she told the whole truth. The probative value of a credible witness is not a required element in any criminal case. However, credibility is always a factor in civil cases. The number of witnesses does not matter for credibility: "The question for the jury is not which side has more witnesses, but what testimony they believe." Only the "quality or power" of believability matters.
In Australian law, the reliability of every witness in a criminal case must be taken into account.
History
Contesting the credibility of so-called "expert" witnesses rose into more common practice in the 1860s and 1870s.
Witnessing of wills and documents
Credible witnesses must be used to give meaning or existence to certain types of documents, such as a last will and testament, codicil, apostille, deposition, interrogatories, certified document, or government record.
For example, in most common law jurisdictions, two or three witnesses must sign their names to the Will at the attestation clause below the testimonium clause that is executed by the testator. The exact number of witnesses depend on the state or local law. Under the English Statute of Wills of 1540, it was three witnesses. Under modern New York law, only two witnesses are required. In Canadian law, a credible witness to a Will "means a witness not incapacitated by mental inbecility (sic), interest or crime."
For authentication of a document, a credible witness is needed whose major duty is identify, to a notary public, the signer of the document.