Section 3 — SYARIAH COURT EVIDENCE (FEDERAL TERRITORIES) ACT 1997

(a)

letters, figures, marks, symbols, signals, signs, or other forms of expression, description, or representation whatsoever;

(b)

any visual recording (whether of still or moving images);

(c)

any sound recording, or any electronic, magnetic, mechanical or other recording whatsoever and howsoever made, or any sounds, electronic impulses, or other data whatsoever;

(d)

a recording, or transmission, over a distance of any matter by any, or any combination, of the means mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or by more than one of the means mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b), (c)

and (d), intended to be used or which may be used for the purpose of expressing, describing, or howsoever representing, that matter;

A writing is a document.

Words printed, lithographed or photographed are documents.

A map, plan, graph or sketch is a document.

An inscription on wood, metal, stone or any other substance, material or thing is a document.

A drawing, painting, picture or caricature is a document.

A photograph or a negative is a document.

A tape recording of a telephonic communication, including a recording of such communication transmitted over a distance, is a document.

A photographic or other visual recording, including a recording of photographic or other visual transmission over a distance, is a document.

A matter recorded, stored, processed, retrieved or produced by a computer is a document;

14 Laws of Malaysia AKTA 561

“evidence” includes—

(a)

bayyinah and syahadah;

(b)

all statements which the Court permits or requires to be made before it by a witness in relation to matters of fact under inquiry: such statements are called oral evidence;

(c)

all documents produced for the inspection of the Court:

such documents are called documentary evidence;

“fact” means and includes—

(a)

any thing, state of things or relation of things capable of being perceived by the senses;

(b)

any mental condition of which any person is conscious;

(a)

That there are certain objects arranged in a certain order in a certain place is a fact.

(b)

That a person heard or saw something is a fact.

(c)

That a person said certain words is a fact.

(d)

That a person holds a certain opinion, has a certain intention, acts in good faith or fraudulently, or uses a particular word in a particular sense, or is or was at a specified time conscious of a particular sensation is a fact.

(e)

That a person has a certain reputation is a fact;

“fact in issue” means any fact from which, either by itself or in connection with other facts, the existence, non-existence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding necessarily follows;

A is charged for an offence of khalwat with B.

Syariah Court Evidence (Federal Territories) 15

At his trial the following facts may be in issue:

that A and B were together in a closed room;

that A and B were together in a vehicle parked in a dark place;

“film” means and includes a microfilm and any negative;

“Hukum Syarak” means Hukum Syarak according to the Mazhab

Shafie, or according to any one of the Mazhab Maliki, Hanafi or

Hanbali;

“Judge” means a Judge of the Syariah Appeal Court, the Syariah

High Court or the Syariah Subordinate Court appointed under sections 42, 43 and 44, respectively, of the Administration Act;

“microfilm” means any transparent material bearing a visual image in reduced size either singly or as a series and includes a microfiche;

“negative” means a transparent negative photograph on any substance or material, and includes any transparent negative photograph made from the original negative photograph;

“Peguam Syarie” means a person appointed a Peguam Syarie under section 59 of the Administration Act;

“qarinah” means fact connected with the other fact in any of the ways referred to in this Act;

“syahadah” means any evidence adduced in Court by uttering the expression “asyhadu” to establish a right or interest;

“‘urf” means custom or practice recognized by society or certain class of people whether in the form of word or deed;

“witness” does not include a plaintiff, defendant and an accused person.

16 Laws of Malaysia AKTA 561

(2)

In this Act—

(a)

a fact is said to be “disproved” when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes that it does not exist or considers its non-existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does not exist;

(b)

a fact is said to be “not proved” when such fact is neither

“proved” nor “disproved” according to this Act;

(c)

a fact is said to be “proved” when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes it to exist or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it exists.

(3)

For the avoidance of doubt as to the identity or interpretation of the words and expressions used in this Act that are listed in the

Schedule, reference may be made to the Arabic Script for those words and expressions as shown against them therein.

Presumption