ISSUES ON EXCLUSIONARY RULES OF EVIDENCE UNDER THE EVIDENCE ACT 2011

Abstract

The aspects of the law of evidence that is generally associated with exclusionary rules are illegally or improperly obtained evidence. However, there is a wider sense and connotation of the rules of exclusion. It is in this wider sense that this paper proposes to discuss ‘issues on exclusionary rules of evidence’ under the Evidence Act, 2011. All types of evidence are subject to some form of exclusionary rules, condition for admissibility, or foundation that the proponent of the document must lay before the document is admissible under the Evidence Act, 2011. The rule is that before evidence is admissible it must be relevant but not all relevant evidence is admissible. That, in the opinion of the writer, is the wider sense of the exclusionary rules of evidence. However, this study shall focus and highlight a few areas of the Act that require further debate on their utility as aids to justice.