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No. 14 of 1906.
CRIMINAL EVIDENCE.
No. 11 of 1906, repealed by No. 5 of 1924.
No. 12 of 1906, incorporated in No. 3 of 1888, repealed by No. 25 of 1930.
No. 13 of 1906, repealed by No. 8 of 1912.
[Originally No. 14 of 1906. Law Rev. Ord., 1939.]
Short title.
Competency of witnesses in criminal cases.
61 & 62 Vict. c. 36, s. 1.
No. 14 of 1906.
An Ordinance to amend the law of evidence in criminal cases.
[12th October, 1906.]
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Criminal Evidence Ordinance, 1906.
2. Every person charged with an offence, and the wife or husband as the case may be of the person so charged, shall be a competent witness for the defence at every stage of the proceedings, whether the person so charged is charged solely or jointly with any other person : Provided as follows-
(a) a person so charged shall not be called as a witness in pursuance of this Ordinance except upon his own application;
(b) the failure of any person charged with an offence, or of the wife or husband as the case may be of the person so charged, to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by the prosecution;
(c) the wife or husband of the person charged shall not, save as in this Ordinance mentioned, be called as a witness in pursuance of this Ordinance except upon the application of the person so charged;
(d) nothing in this Ordinance shall make a husband compellable to disclose any communication made to him by his wife during the marriage, or a wife compellable to disclose any communication made to her by her husband during the marriage;
(e) a person charged and being a witness in pursuance of this Ordinance may be asked any question in cross-examination notwithstanding that it would tend to criminate him as to the offence charged;