In plain English
Not legal adviceThis Act defines the law of evidence. It applies to all judicial proceedings in or before any court. It does not apply to affidavits presented to any court or officer, or to proceedings before an arbitrator.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Chapter I
Preliminary
Official textFrom Laws of Malaysia Online, unchanged
s 1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Evidence Act 1950.
s 2Extent
This Act shall apply to all judicial proceedings in or before any court, but not to affidavits presented to any court or officer nor to proceedings before an arbitrator.
s 3Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
“computer” means an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other data processing device, or a group of such interconnected or related devices, performing logical, arithmetic, storage and display functions, and includes any data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with
such device or group of such interconnected or related devices, but does not include an automated typewriter or typesetter, or a portable hand held calculator or other similar device which is non-programmable or which does not contain any data storage facility;
“court” means a court established by or under Part IX of the
Federal Constitution and includes—
a Judge;
a Sessions Court Judge;
a Magistrate; and
except an arbitrator, every person legally authorized to take evidence;
“document” means any matter expressed, described, or howsoever represented, upon any substance, material, thing or article, including any matter embodied in a disc, tape, film, sound-track or other device whatsoever, by means of—
letters, figures, marks, symbols, signals, signs, or other forms of expression, description, or representation whatsoever;
any visual recording (whether of still or moving images);
any sound recording, or any electronic, magnetic, mechanical or other recording whatsoever and howsoever made, or any sounds, electronic impulses, or other data whatsoever;
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),
, (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.
Evidence 15
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 distance, is a document.
A photographic or other visual recording, including a recording of a 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;
“evidence” includes—
all statements which the court permits or requires to be made before it by witnesses in relation to matters of fact under inquiry: such statements are called oral evidence;
all documents produced for the inspection of the court:
such documents are called documentary evidence;
“fact” means and includes—
any thing, state of things or relation of things capable of being perceived by the senses;
any mental condition of which any person is conscious;
That there are certain objects arranged in a certain order in a certain place is a fact.
That a man heard or saw something is a fact.
That a man said certain words is a fact.
That a man 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.
That a man 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 accused of the murder of B.
At his trial the following facts may be in issue:
that A caused B’s death;
that A intended to cause B’s death;
that A had received grave and sudden provocation from B;
that A at the time of doing the act which caused B’s death was by reason of unsoundness of mind incapable of knowing its nature;
“film” includes a microfilm and any negative;
“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;
“proved”: 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;
“disproved”: 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;
“not proved”: a fact is said to be “not proved” when it is neither proved nor disproved;
“relevant”: one fact is said to be relevant to another when the one is connected with the other in any of the ways referred to in the provisions of this Act relating to the relevancy of facts.
Whenever it is provided by this Act that the court may presume a fact, it may either regard the fact as proved unless and until it is disproved, or may call for proof of it.
Evidence 17
Whenever it is directed by this Act that the court shall presume a fact, it shall regard the fact as proved unless and until it is disproved.
When one fact is declared by this Act to be conclusive proof of another, the court shall, on proof of the one fact, regard the other as proved, and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it.
Chapter II
Part II
Proof
Chapter III
Facts Which Need Not Be Proved
Chapter IV
Oral Evidence
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Exclusion of Oral by Documentary Evidence
Part III
Production and Effect of Evidence
Chapter VII
Burden of Proof
Chapter VIII
Estoppel
Chapter IX
Witnesses
Chapter X
Examination of Witnesses
Chapter XI