Hearsay In Civil Cases

In my opinion, in non-criminal cases, the United States should follow the lead of the United Kingdom which repealed the hearsay rule in Section 1 of the Civil Evidence Act of 1995, which says:

Admissibility of hearsay evidence. 

(1) In civil proceedings evidence shall not be excluded on the ground that it is hearsay. 

(2) In this Act— 

(a)“hearsay” means a statement made otherwise than by a person while giving oral evidence in the proceedings which is tendered as evidence of the matters stated; and 

(b) references to hearsay include hearsay of whatever degree. 

(3)Nothing in this Act affects the admissibility of evidence admissible apart from this section. 

(4)The provisions of sections 2 to 6 (safeguards and supplementary provisions relating to hearsay evidence) do not apply in relation to hearsay evidence admissible apart from this section, notwithstanding that it may also be admissible by virtue of this section.

Sections 2 to 6 of the Act provide some minor procedural nuances to admitting hearsay and encourage judges to be skeptical of it when it is appropriate to do so.