Evidence Act 1950 · Updated to 1 Nov 2017 · Chapter VI · Exclusion of Oral by Documentary Evidence
91. Evidence of terms of contracts, grants and other dispositions of property reduced to form of document
Feedback & supportWhen the terms of a contract or of a grant or of any other disposition of property have been reduced by or by consent of the parties to the form of a document, and in all cases in which any matter is required by law to be reduced to the form of a document, no evidence shall be given in proof of the terms of the contract, grant or other disposition of property or of the matter except the document itself, or secondary evidence of its contents in cases in which secondary evidence is admissible under the provisions hereinbefore contained.
document
“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— (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. 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;
Exception 1—When a public officer is required by law to be appointed in writing, and when it is shown that any particular person has acted as such officer, the writing by which he is appointed need not be proved.
Exception 2—Wills admitted to probate in Malaysia may be proved by the probate.
Explanation 1—This section applies equally to cases in which the contracts, grants or dispositions of property referred to are contained in one document and to cases in which they are contained in more documents than one.
Evidence 71
evidence
“evidence” includes— (a) 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; (b) all documents produced for the inspection of the court: such documents are called documentary evidence;
Explanation 2—Where there are more originals than one, one original only need be proved.
Explanation 3—The statement in any document whatever of a fact, other than the facts referred to in this section, shall not preclude the admission of oral evidence as to the same fact.
fact
“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 man heard or saw something is a fact. (c) That a man said certain words is a fact. (d) 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. (e) That a man has a certain reputation is a fact;
If a contract is contained in several letters, all the letters in which it is contained must be proved.
If a contract is contained in a bill of exchange, the bill of exchange must be proved.
If a bill of exchange is drawn in a set of three, one only need be proved.
A contracts in writing with B for the delivery of pepper upon certain terms. The contract mentions the fact that B had paid A the price of other pepper contracted for verbally on another occasion.
Oral evidence is offered that no payment was made for the other pepper.
The evidence is admissible.
A gives B a receipt for money paid by B.
Oral evidence is offered of the payment.
The evidence is admissible.