8 COMPETENCE AND

COMPELLABILITY

1. Competence 356 3. Compellability 368

2. Testifying on Oath/A$ rming 364

Denitions
Competence The ability to give evidence at trial.
Compellability The extent to which a witness can be forced to give evidence at trial, even if they
do not wish to do so.
Afrmation Secular equivalent of an oath, and with the same legal consequences, for those who
do not wish to invoke a divine sanction when giving evidence.

1. Competence

Introduction
* e law pertaining to competence governs the ability of a witness to give evidence at trial, ie
it determines whether or not he can be heard by the court. As will be seen, that regulating
compellability governs whether the same witness can be forced to testify, even if he does not
wish to do so, in the sense that he will be punished if he does not appear to give evidence when
required. Historically, at common law, many groups of witnesses were deemed not to be compe-
tent to give evidence, and so could not testify, even if they could provide potentially important
information. Among them were: atheists, convicted felons, and interested parties to both civil
and criminal litigation (ie the litigants themselves). Additionally, spouses could not normally
give evidence for or against each other. A variety of reasons lay behind this rather restrictive
situation.
For example, atheists were barred from testifying as they would not be able to take an oath, or
fear its religious sanction if they did. The rationale for the (perhaps surprising) incompetence of
interested parties was based on a pervasive fear that, without it, litigants might be encouraged
to manufacture evidence to support their cases. When it came to marriage, the law viewed mar-
ried couples as being almost a single entity, the wifes legal identity being subsumed in that of
her husband under the doctrine of coverture. Since a defendant was (at that time) incompetent
 c ompet enc e 357

to testify, it was logical that a wife could not testify if her husband was on trial, even as a defence
witness, unless she was the victim of her husbands crime of violence (where, for practical rea-
sons, an exception was made).
All of the witnesses listed above became competent to testify as the result of a series of Victorian
statutes, the enactment of which were inEuenced by the earlier work of Jeremy Bentham and a
growing recognition of the value of such evidentiary sources. Additionally, in the modern era,
under s 80 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PCEA 1984), as amended by Sch. 4 to
the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA 1999), spouses are always compe-
tent to give evidence in criminal trials for both the prosecution and defence. As a result of these
reforms, the vast majority of adult witnesses are competent to testify. * is inclusive approach
was further encouraged by the publication of Speaking Up For Justice, a Home O$ ce Report
from 1998. * is suggested that only wholly unintelligible testimony should be withheld from a
criminal tribunal, and inEuenced subsequent reform.

Speaking Up for Justice: Report of the Interdepartmental Working

Group on the Treatment of Vulnerable or Intimidated Witnesses
in the Criminal Justice System, Home Ofce, June 1998, paras
11.2511.26
11.25 If the basic principles of evidence are that relevant evidence is included and that it is for
the tribunal of fact to weigh it, it could be argued that public policy should allow for its inclusion
in all but he most exceptional of cases. This would involve reviewing both the present system of
exclusions by category based on what we now consider to be outdated assumptions of human
nature as well as the assumptions on the jurys ability to understand, weigh, and consider evi-
dence where the manner of its expression may be difcult or unusual.
11.26 This approach would retain the right of the jury or tribunal of fact to test the credibility
and weight of the evidence. It would also be right to allow the jury to hear expert evidence as
to the ability of the witness to give reliable evidence based on the witnesss faculties while not
usurping the jurys function by testing the evidence. However, unless incoherency is such that it
renders the witness evidence without appropriate aid wholly unintelligible, the option would be
based on a presumption that in the case of all witnesses over the age of 14 years evidence will be
called to be tested by the jury as best it can. The oath can be dispensed with in such cases but the
need to tell the truth will be explained to the witness, who will be required to provide some form
of acknowledgement.

Competence in Criminal Cases

* is encouragement of general competence in criminal matters is reEected, to a degree at least,
in the presumption contained in s 53(1) of the YJCEA 1999, which provides that: At every
stage in criminal proceedings all persons are (whatever their age) competent to give evidence.
However, the Act itself allows for two exceptions to this general rule. One of them, a lack of men-
tal or intellectual competence, whether occasioned by retardation, mental illness or infancy,
has occasioned problems for centuries. Even in the 1700s, it was appreciated that some ideots,
madmen, and children under the Age of common knowledge were unable to give evidence
because of their want of skill and discernment or because they were incapable of any Sense
358 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

of Truth.1 This remains the case today, at least in some situations. Additionally, defendants are
not competent to give evidence for the prosecution.

Section 53 of the YJCEA 1999, Competence of witnesses to give

evidence
(1) At every stage in criminal proceedings all persons are (whatever their age) competent to give
evidence.
(2) Subsection (1) has effect subject to subsections (3) and (4).
(3) A person is not competent to give evidence in criminal proceedings if it appears to the court
that he is not a person who is able to
(a) understand questions put to him as a witness, and
(b) give answers to them which can be understood.
(4) A person charged in criminal proceedings is not competent to give evidence in the proceed-
ings for the prosecution (whether he is the only person, or is one of two or more persons,
charged in the proceedings).
(5) In subsection (4) the reference to a person charged in criminal proceedings does not include
a person who is not, or is no longer, liable to be convicted of any offence in the proceedings
(whether as a result of pleading guilty or for any other reason).

Determining Competence in Criminal Cases

By s 54 of the YJCEA 1999, it is for the court to decide (in a criminal case), whether on a motion
by either party or of its own accord, if a tendered witness is competent to give evidence. However,
it is for the party calling the witness to satisfy the court that s/he is competent, albeit only on the
balance of probabilities, under s 54(2) of the Act. It must do so in the absence of the jury, if the
trial is on indictment, and expert evidence may be called on the issue. For example, this might
include the evidence of a child psychiatrist called to testify that a tendered (infant) witness can
give intelligible answers to questions.
When making a decision as to competence, a court must also consider whether a special
measures direction issued under s 19 of the YJCEA 1999 would assist in making the prospective
witness competent, for the purposes of the Act, in a best case scenario. Thus, when deciding
whether a child would be able to give intelligible answers to questions, the court must decide
whether he would be able to do so if, for example, he gave his evidence in chief via a video
recording, and were cross-examined via a video-link, rather than testifying in open court.

Cross-reference Box
A range of special measures directions, most issued under the YJCEA 1999, have been introduced
to reduce the trauma of testifying and with a view to enhancing the quality of such evidence. These
provide alternatives to testifying in open court for certain witnesses, especially, for example,
children and sexual complainants. For more information on special measures directions go to
pp 406419.

1
ibid at 147.
 c ompet enc e 359

The Test for Mental/Intellectual Competence

In the modern era, under s 53(3) of the YJCEA 1999, a person is not competent to give evidence
in criminal proceedings if it appears to the court that he cannot understand questions put to
him as a witness, and cannot give answers to them that can be understood. * is might be, for
example, because of mental defect, insanity or infancy.
* is two-part regime replaced the complicated mixture of common law and statutory rules
that had previously governed this area of the law. As a result, the 1999 Act repealed, inter alia,
s 38 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and s 33A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Whether or not the test set out in s 53(3) is satisRed appears to be a question of degree, as can be
seen from the following case, which involved the ability of a woman, the victim in a rape case,
who was 81 years old and suS ering from the eS ects of Alzheimers disease, to give evidence at
trial.

R v Sed [2005] 1 Cr App Rep 55, CA

Auld LJ
Mr Carter-Stephensons second point was that, unless the complainant understood all the mater-
ial questions put to her and all her material answers were understandable, she could not qualify
as competent within the terms of s 53. It should be noted that s 53 does not, in terms, provide
for 100 per cent mutual comprehension of material exchanges giving rise to potential evidence.
And, in our view, depending on the length and the nature of the questioning and the complexity
of the matter the subject of it, it may not always require 100 per cent, or near 100 per cent, mutual
understanding between questioner and questioned as a pre-condition of competence. The judge
should also make allowance for the fact that the witnesss performance and command of the detail
may vary according to the importance to him or her of the subject matter of the question, how
recent it was (in this case the interview took place within two days after the alleged attempted
rape) and any strong feelings that it may have engendered. It is thus for the judge to determine the
question of competence almost as a matter of feel, taking into account the effect of the potential
witnesss performance as a whole, whether there is a common and comprehensible thread in his
or her responses to the questions, however patchybearing always in mind that, if, on critical
matters, the witness can be seen and heard to be intelligible, it is for the jury and no-one else to
determine matters of reliability and general cogency.

In DPP v R [2007] EWHC 1842, a 13-year-old girl, who was severely mentally handicapped,
was the complainant in a sexual assault case. Her initial police interview about the inci-
dent was video-recorded and was considered to be coherent. * is was tendered at trial as
her examination in chief (under a special measures direction). However, when it came to
cross-examination, the girl was unable to recall anything about the incident at all. The ques-
tion then arose as to whether this lack of independent recollection of the incident that had
brought her to court rendered her incompetent. * e Divisional Court concluded that it did
not. * e girl satisRed the test set out in s 53 of the YJCEA 1999, in that she could understand
and answer questions coherently, even if her answer was limited to saying that she did not
remember anything.
360 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

DPP v R [2007] EWHC 1842, DC

Hughes LJ
This was not a case, on the Justices ndings, of incompetence. The girl may have had her learning
difculties. Her evidence may have needed treating with some care in consequence, but the prob-
lem at trial was not capacity to understand or to give intelligible answers, it was loss of memory.
Recollection is quite different from competence. Of course, absence of recollection may, in some
cases, co-exist with absence of competence, but they do not necessarily run together. Persons
who have no recollection for an event may be perfectly competent. A simple example is the wit-
ness who is knocked out in the course of whatever happened which founds the charges, and has
absolutely no recollection of what occurred, but is otherwise fully functioning.

Pause for reection

Did this decision afford the defendant a proper opportunity to test the complainants
evidence?

Competence and Children

* e wording of s 53(1) means that children of any age are, potentially, competent to testify in
criminal trials, unless, under s 53(3), they cannot understand questions or give comprehensible
answers to them. * e Court of Appeal has interpreted this as meaning that the child witness
must be able to understand what is being asked of them and their answers must be of a nature
that a jury could understand. * us, the words put to him as a witness under s 53(3)(a) meant
the equivalent of being asked of him in court. An infant who can only communicate in baby-
language with his/her mother would not normally be competent: R v MacPherson [2006] 1 Cr
App R 30. In this case, the Court of Appeal went on to make some important observations about
the working of the section.

R v MacPherson [2006] 1 Cr App R 30, CA

Forbes J
We also accept the submission that there is no requirement in the Act (which is commendably clear
in its language) that the witness in question should be aware of his status as a witness. Questions
of credibility and reliability are not relevant to competence. Those matters go to the weight of the
evidence and might be considered, if appropriate, at the end of the prosecution case, by way of a
submission of no case to answer.

Until late in the twentieth century, the courts were reluctant to receive evidence from very young
infants, especially those who were below seven years of age. For example, in comments made
in the Court of Appeal, in R v Wallwork (1958) 42 Cr App R 153, Lord Goddard deprecated the
 c ompet enc e 361

calling of a Rve-year-old girl in an incest case, and expressed the hope that it would not occur
again. Nevertheless, nowadays, and partly as a result of the new means whereby a witness (espe-
cially children) can testify pursuant to a special measures direction (such as via a video-link
or with the use of an intermediary), and partly because of psychological research that suggests
that the evidence of infants is oYen of considerable value, and not necessarily inherently unre-
liable, younger children are sometimes allowed to testify. It is also recognized that there is often
a strong public interest in allowing them to testify, particularly in child abuse cases, where they
may be the only witness available.
Indicative of the potential value of childrens evidence can be considered the information
provided by Susie, a three-year-old girl who had been abducted in 1983, sexually assaulted and
then abandoned for dead in a cesspit, and who gave an account of her experiences shortly aYer
she was found. Subsequent investigation established that she had given a remarkably accurate
narrative of what had occurred, though her recollection of what happened subsequently dete-
riorated very much faster than would be the case with an older child.

D Jones, The Evidence of a Three-Year-Old Child [1987] Crim LR 677

(Extract)
This case report illustrates that a child as young as three can provide a convincing account of a
traumatic event which she had experienced. Additionally she could correctly identify her assail-
ant. Part of the video taped assessment at day 14 consisted of assessments of her general reliabil-
ity as well as the reliability of her ability to identify from photographs. In this case the information
obtained from the childs account was able to be matched with the defendants eventual confes-
sion. Susies account and the defendants show that this little child, at least, was a reliable inform-
ant. The account itself consisted of demonstration with toys, her observed behavioural reactions
as well as direct statements that she made.

As a result of a change in attitudes engendered by such research, in R v C.A.Z. (1990) 91 Cr App

R 203, a six-year-old was allowed to give evidence against her father in a sexual abuse trial. Even
more notably, in R v Dean (2007) " e Times, 13 January, a five-year-old girl gave evidence, using
an ABE (Achieving Best Evidence) video recording, followed by cross-examination via a live
link, to the eS ect that she had been raped by the defendant, who was also her babysitter, when
she was only three. In R v Barker [2010] EWCA Crim 4 the evidence of a four-and-a-half-year-
old child, about events that took place when she was three, was also received, in another rape
case, and the safety of the verdict upheld on appeal.

Pause for reection

In what circumstances would you be willing to convict on the evidence of a ve-year-old?

Even so, there are, of course, still limits on the ages at which most infants can give evidence
without falling foul of s 53(3). In R v Powell [2006] Crim LR 781, for example, a three-and-a-
half year-old sexual complainant was initially treated as (just) competent to give evidence, in
the light of her pre-recorded police video, which was both coherent and relevant. However,
when it came to cross-examination, via a live link, it was apparent that she was a much less
362 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

satisfactory witness than the video suggested; she failed to articulate many answers and, at
one point in the process, appeared to be accepting the defence case. It was held that what was
relevant to the judges decision on admissibility was competence at the time of trial, and, in
the light of the complainants cross-examination, it was apparent that she was not competent
to testify. As a result, the trial judge should have reversed her initial decision and rejected all
of the infants evidence, including the video. As this suggests, it is now well established that
the competence of infants may be reconsidered at the end of their evidence: R v Barker [2010]
EWCA Crim 4.

R v C.A.Z. (1990) 91 Cr App R 203, CA

Lord Lane CJ
So far as Wallwork is concerned, that decision, some considerable number of years ago, in 1958,
has really been overtaken by events. First of all it will be seen from the words of Lord Goddard that
part of the concern which he expressed was concern over the position of the child itself in court,
when he mentions the fact the court was cleared so far as it was possible to have it cleared. That
particular problem has now to a great extent been cured by the system of video links, which of
course in Lord Goddards days were not even imagined. But more recent developments . . . [indi-
cate] a change of attitude by Parliament, reecting in its turn a change of attitude by the public
in general to the acceptability of the evidence of young children and of increasing belief that the
testimony of young children, when all precautions have been taken, may be just as reliable as that
of their elders.

However, where an infant has been deemed to be competent, their evidence is like that of any
other witness, and can found a conviction like that of any other witness, without requiring any
supporting evidence.

R v Barker [2010] EWCA Crim 4, CA

The Lord Chief Justice

There remains the broad question whether the conviction which is effectively dependent upon
the truthfulness and accuracy of this young child is safe. In reality what we are being asked to con-
sider is an underlying submission that no such conviction can ever be safe. The short answer is that
it is open to a properly directed jury, unequivocally directed about the dangers and difculties of
doing so, to reach a safe conclusion on the basis of the evidence of a single competent witness,
whatever his or her age, and whatever his or her disability. The ultimate verdict is the responsibility
of the jury.

In former years, the competence of a child (or any other witness) to give evidence (whether on
oath or not) was normally determined in the presence of the jury, on the basis that this would
also assist jurors when it came to weighing his/her testimony if they were (ultimately) permit-
ted to give evidence. However, this is no longer the case, such questions usually being deter-
mined in the absence of the jury, as a matter for the judge alone.
 c ompet enc e 363

In R v Deakin [1995] 1 Cr App R 471, the victim and proposed prosecution witness was a
woman with Downs Syndrome, who had been indecently assaulted by a care assistant. At the
competency hearing, the judge heard from her in the presence of the jury and also took expert
testimony from two psychologists, whose opinion was that the woman was capable of telling
the truth. The defendant appealed on the basis that this evidence should not have been heard
in front of the jury, who might have been inEuenced by the experts acceptance of the com-
plainants story. * e Court of Appeal agreed, at least insofar as the experts were concerned
(although applying the proviso and dismissing the appeal). Th is applies equally to children
and extends to the witnesss examination by the judge, as can be seen from the following
extract.

R v Hampshire [1995] 2 Cr App R 319, CA

Auld LJ
It follows, in our judgment, that a judge who considers it necessary to investigate a childs compe-
tence to give evidence in addition to or without the benet of an earlier view of a video-taped inter-
view under section 32A of the 1988 Act, should do so in open court in the presence of the accused
because it is part of the trial but need not do so in the presence of the jury. The jurys function is to
assess the childs evidence, including its weight, from the evidence he or she gives on the facts of
the case after the child has been found competent to give it. The exercise of determining compe-
tence is not a necessary aid to that function.

Defendant Competence for the Prosecution

* e previous and long-standing rule whereby a defendant was not competent to give evi-
dence for the prosecution in his own trial, or in that of any co-defendant charged in the same
proceedings, has also been preserved by dint of s 53(4) of the YJCEA 1999. What this means
is that (obviously) an accused person cannot give evidence for the Crown against himself,
nor, when two or more defendants are being tried together, can he be called by the prosecu-
tion to give evidence against one of his co-defendants. However, under s 53(5), the deRnition
of a person who is charged in criminal proceedings does not include someone who is no
longer liable to be convicted (rather than sentenced). Most commonly, as the provision itself
suggests, this state of aS airs might be occasioned by the relevant individual pleading guilty.
Having done so, he could then be called to give evidence for the prosecution against a former
co-defendant.
Such a situation could also be achieved by some other mechanism, or for any other reason to
quote the statute. * is could be done, for example, by the Attorney General entering a nolle pro-
sequi against the defendant, that is, a writ bringing t he prosecution to an end. Converting a joint
trial into separate trials of the individual co-defendants would also have this eS ect. However,
cynical attempts to do this purely as a way of ensuring that co-accused become competent
to give evidence against each other have usually been deprecated by the courts. In theory, an
accused person may be called (though he cannot be compelled) to give evidence for the defence
of a co-defendant, though, if he does so, he will, of course, be liable to be cross-examined about
his own involvement in the alleged crime, making such a scenario highly unlikely.
364 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

Competence in Civil Cases

An adult witness will be competent to testify in a civil case if he can take the oath/a$ rm prior to
doing so (see below). There is no power to allow an adult to give evidence except on oath (unlike
the situation in criminal matters), so that competence and the ability to be sworn are syn-
onymous. A child witness in civil matters who does not understand the nature of an oath can
testify without being sworn, provided he satisRes the test set out in s 96(2) of the Children Act
1989, which is that he understands the duty to speak the truth and has su$ cient understanding
to justify his evidence being heard. * e duty to speak the truth is, presumably, the duty to be
truthful in normal social intercourse (rather than the added duty imposed when on oath). For
these purposes, s 105 of the Children Act provides that children are young people under the
age of 18 years. * e 1989 statute was the Rrst to allow unsworn evidence from children in civil
matters.
Nevertheless, adults in civil cases who are, in some way, so mentally defective that they can-
not meet the test for taking an oath, cannot give unsworn evidence, even if they meet the same
standard of understanding as children testifying under s 96(2) of the Children Act 1989 or,
for that matter, unsworn adults giving evidence in criminal matters pursuant to s 53(3) of the
YJCEA 1999. * is could, in theory, produce some strange results. * us, a slightly mentally
backward 17-year-old might be able to testify (unsworn) on one day, but could not do so a
month later, aYer he had turned 18. Of course, not all forms of mental disturbance will pre-
clude a witness from reaching the requisite level of understanding to take an oath. * us, in R
v Hill (1851) 2 Den 254, the inmate of an insane asylum, who believed that he was occasionally
being spoken to by spirits, but who, despite this delusion, had a clear understanding of the duty
imposed by an oath, was allowed to be sworn and testify on a manslaughter charge; the same
principle would apply to a civil matter.

2. Testifying on Oath/Affirming

Introduction
When a party in a case calls a witness to give evidence, the witness will normally either take the
oath or, alternatively, a$ rm, before testifying. Indeed, for adult witnesses in civil trials the test
for competence and that required to take the oath/affirm are synonymous, though this is not
the case for children in civil matters, or for adults and children in criminal trials. A$ rmation
will occur if the witness is not religious, is of a faith that cannot be readily accommodated by the
court (perhaps because it lacks the requisite holy text) or because, like members of the Society
of Friends (Quakers), they do not believe in swearing a religious oath. Nowadays, in most urban
courts, all of the major religions found in modern England are catered for, with copies of the
Bible (both Old and New Testament), Koran, Gita, etc, being available. However, if an arcane
religious belief cannot be catered for, the witness can be asked to a$ rm. Counsel should not
normally challenge a witness who has a$ rmed on the basis that they are, in reality, religious,
and should have taken an oath on the appropriate holy book, suggesting an intention not to tell
the truth: R v Majid [2009] EWCA Crim 2563.
 t est ify ing on oat h/a f f ir ming 365

* e terms of the oath and a$ rmation are set out in s 1(1) of the Oaths Act 1978 and have
the same legal eS ect vis--vis subsequent prosecutions for perjury. * e former is: I swear by
Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth. * e terms of the a$ rmation are: I do solemnly and sincerely and truly declare
and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. In his 2001 report, Lord Justice Auld suggested that, although it was necessary to mark
the beginning of a witnesss evidence in some manner, a solemn promise to tell the truth would
be superior to the current oath/a$ rmation regime, with its combination of archaic words
and (in the case of the oath) the invoking of God, which were, nevertheless, oYen uttered in a
perfunctory manner. An inadvertent failure to administer the oath to a witness who ought to
have been sworn is not a mere technicality, one that can usually be ignored on appeal, as such
a witness may have given diS erent evidence if they had testiRed on oath: R v Sharman [1998] 1
Cr App R 406.

R v Sharman [1998] 1 Cr App R 406, CA

Mantell LJ
It might be said that it is extremely unlikely that had P been sworn she would have deviated in
a single instance from the answers which she returned to questions both in chief and cross-ex-
amination. But for the court to make that assumption would be to diminish the requirement that
evidence be sworn or afrmed to the point where the procedure becomes virtually meaningless.
As Evans L.J. said in Simmonds: The courts proceed on the basis that the oath imposes a sanc-
tion, temporal if not religious, and for those reasons the courts do not receive un-sworn evidence
except where it is expressly permissible for them to do so. So as Evans L.J. went on to say in that
case: The evidence ostensibly given was not evidence at all. That means and can only mean in the
present case that the evidence received from P viva voce was inadmissible.

Oaths in Criminal Cases

In criminal matters, the criteria set out in s 55 of the YJCEA 1999 now determine whether or not
a witness is to be sworn. In particular, it should be noted that, under s 55(2)(a) and (b), only a
person aged 14 or more years can be sworn, and that, to do so, he must have a su$ cient appreci-
ation of the solemnity of the occasion and of the particular responsibility to tell the truth which
is involved in taking the oath.
* is means that the Act provides a statutory deRnition of competence to give sworn testi-
mony, replacing that which previously existed at common law (though it is largely the same as
the test that developed in the 1970s), and which still applies in civil cases. If the witness is able to
give intelligible testimony, ie he can understand questions and answer them so as to be under-
stood, he will be presumed to be able to give sworn evidence unless there is evidence (which
may include expert evidence) to the contrary: s 55(3). However, once such evidence is adduced,
for example, by the opposing party demonstrating that the witness may not understand the
responsibilities inherent in taking an oath, the calling party must persuade the court, on the
balance of probabilities, that the witness is competent to be sworn, ie that they are over 14 and
appreciate the requirements of the oath: s 55(4) of the Act. Th is will usually be determined on
the voir dire procedure (see chapter 1).
366 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

* e question as to whether or not an oath has been lawfully administered does not appear to
rest on the theological intricacies of the speciRc religion of the witness concerned. For example,
in R v Kemble [1990] 1 WLR 1111, it was held that the fact that a Muslim witness took an oath
using the New Testament did not constitute a material irregularity in the course of the trial,
even though this was contrary to Islamic rules on oath taking. The witness had been properly
sworn.

R v Kemble [1990] 1 WLR 1111, CA

Lord Taylor CJ
We take the view that the question of whether the administration of an oath is lawful does not
depend upon what may be the considerable intricacies of the particular religion which is adhered
to by the witness. It concerns two matters and two matters only in our judgment. First of all, is the
oath an oath which appears to the court to be binding on the conscience of the witness? And, if
so, secondly, and most importantly, is it an oath which the witness himself considers to be binding
upon his conscience?
So far as the present case is concerned, quite plainly the rst of those matters is satised. The
court did obviously consider the oath to be one which was binding upon the witness. It was the
second matter which was the subject so to speak of dispute before this court. Not only did we have
the evidence of the professor, the expert in the Muslim theology, but we also had the evidence of
the witness himself. He having on this occasion been sworn upon a copy of the Koran in Arabic
gave evidence before us that he did consider himself to be bound as to his conscience by the way
in which he took the oath at the trial. Indeed he went further. He said, Whether I had taken the oath
upon the Koran or upon the Bible or upon the Torah, I would have considered that to be binding
on my conscience. He was cross-examined by Mr. Banks in an endeavour to show that that was
not the truth, but we have no doubt, having heard him give his evidence and seen him give his evi-
dence, that that was the truth, and that he did consider all of those to be holy books, and that he
did consider that his conscience was bound by the form of oath he took and the way in which he
took it. In other words we accept his evidence.

Oaths in Civil Cases

As already noted, adult witnesses in civil cases must give evidence on oath, so the test for the
oath and that for competence is the same. Children in civil cases can also give evidence on oath,
provided they meet the requisite test to do so. Historically, at common law (which still governs
civil cases), to have a su$ cient understanding of the oath to justify being sworn required an
appreciation of its divine sanction: R v Brasier (1779) 1 Leach 199. In the modern era, however,
a time when religious belief is less prevalent, this has been replaced by the more secular test
enunciated in the criminal case of R v Hayes [1977] 1 WLR 234, which still governs the situation
in civil matters (the principle has been reduced to a similar statutory formula, in criminal cases,
under s 55 of the YJCEA 1999). * is asks whether the witness has a su$ cient appreciation of
the solemnity of the occasion, and the added responsibility to tell the truth, which is involved
in taking an oath.
Normally, Hayes suggests, infants below the age of eight will be too young to take an oath,
while most children over 10 will be able to do so; the most keenly contested cases will fall in
 t est ify ing on oat h/a f f ir ming 367

the two-year watershed between these ages. However, each case will turn on its own facts; an
immature child of 11 might not be sworn, a very advanced child of seven might be able to take
an oath. * e case also made it clear that the Court of Appeal will not lightly interfere with a
judges exercise of his discretion in this respect, given that he has the advantage of seeing the
boy or girl. Usually, an inquiry as to whether children are capable of taking an oath will only be
carried out on those who are under the age of 14: R v Khan (1981) 73 Cr App R 190. (Although
this was a criminal case, the principle survives in civil matters.)

R v Hayes [1977] 1 WLR 234, CA

Bridge LJ
It is unrealistic not to recognise that, in the present state of society, amongst the adult population
the divine sanction of an oath is probably not generally recognised. The important consideration,
we think, when a judge has to decide whether a child should properly be sworn, is whether the
child has a sufcient appreciation of the solemnity of the occasion and the added responsibility to
tell the truth, which is involved in taking an oath, over and above the duty to tell the truth which is
an ordinary duty of normal social conduct.

Unsworn Evidence
As will be appreciated from the above, competence in criminal matters, and an ability to give
sworn evidence, are not synonymous. As a result, s 56 of the YJCEA 1999 permits the reception
of unsworn evidence that is given either by witnesses who are under the age of 14 or by older
witnesses who do not appear to understand the solemnity of the proceedings required in tak-
ing an oath (perhaps because they have a mental handicap) but who can, nevertheless, still give
intelligible testimony (ie they are competent under the Act).
In R v Hampshire [1995] 3 WLR 260, Auld LJ suggested that, where a young child gives
unsworn evidence, a judge might find it appropriate to remind him/her, in the presence of the
defendant and jury, of the importance of telling the truth. For example, he might say: Tell us
all you can remember of what happened. Dont make anything up or leave anything out. * is is
very important. Under s 57 of the YJCEA 1999, it is an offence to give false unsworn evidence
in circumstances that would constitute perjury, had the evidence been given on oath, though,
for those under 14, the penalty is limited to a Rne not exceeding 250. A deposition of unsworn
evidence may also be taken, pursuant to s 56(3). In civil matters, unsworn evidence can be given
by children who satisfy the test set out in s 116 of the Children Act 1989 (discussed above).

Section 56 of the YJCEA 1999, Reception of unsworn evidence

(Partial extract)
(1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply to a person (of any age) who
(a) is competent to give evidence in criminal proceedings, but
(b) (by virtue of section 55(2)) is not permitted to be sworn for the purpose of giving evidence
on oath in such proceedings.
368 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

(2) The evidence in criminal proceedings of a person to whom this subsection applies shall be
given unsworn.
(3) A deposition of unsworn evidence given by a person to whom this subsection applies may be
taken for the purposes of criminal proceedings as if that evidence had been given on oath.
(4) A court in criminal proceedings shall accordingly receive in evidence any evidence given
unsworn in pursuance of subsection (2) or (3). . . .

3. Compellability

Introduction
Compellability determines whether or not a witness can be legally forced to testify, irrespect-
ive of his personal wishes. * is can be done by a relevant party securing a subpoena, witness
order or witness summons, requiring him to attend to give evidence, depending on the forum
in which the witness is asked to testify. If the witness then fails to obey it, if he does not attend
court, refuses to enter the witness box when called or, having done so, is unwilling to answer
speciRc questions, he risks being found to be in contempt of court and punished accordingly
(which can include imprisonment) or, under s 3 of the Criminal Procedure (Attendance of
Witnesses) Act 1965, sentenced to a maximum of three months imprisonment. Additionally,
under s 67 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, judges have the power to
issue arrest warrants for witnesses who fail to attend to give evidence at the Crown Court. * e
Court of Appeal has periodically stressed the importance of witnesses co-operating with the
courts, warning that if a witness chooses to ignore a summons they can expect to be punished:
R v Yusuf [2003] 2 Cr App R 32. Nevertheless, the sanction of contempt is very rarely used with
regard to children under the age of 16 who refuse to testify.
Normally, any witness who is competent to give evidence is also compellable to do so, in
both civil and criminal cases. However, there are a limited number of exceptions to this general
rule, some of which are quite arcane. For example, the Queen and diplomatic ambassadors are
competent but not compellable to testify. Additionally, no judge, of whatever level, including
masters of the Supreme Court, can be compelled to give evidence in relation to their judicial
functions (though they are competent to do so). For example, a District Judge cannot be com-
pelled to give evidence as to the extent of a wifes undertaking in matrimonial proceedings
conducted in the County Court: Warren v Warren [1997] QB 488. Much more important, in
practice, is the position of spouses in criminal cases.

Spousal Compellability in Criminal Cases

A spouse, although always competent for the prosecution against their husband or wife in a
criminal matter, cannot normally be compelled to give evidence against their partner. This is
unlike the situation that prevails in civil proceedings, where spouses are usually treated like any
 co mpel l a bilit y 369

other type of witness. * e very limited number of situations in which a spouse can be compelled
to give evidence against their husband or wife in a criminal trial are governed by s 80 of the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as amended by Sch 4 of the YJCEA 1999.

Section 80 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984,

Competence and compellability of accuseds spouse or civil partner
(2) In any proceedings the spouse or civil partner of a person charged in the proceedings shall,
subject to subsection (4) below, be compellable to give evidence on behalf of that person.
(2A) In any proceedings the spouse or civil partner of a person charged in the proceedings shall,
subject to subsection (4) below, be compellable
(a) to give evidence on behalf of any other person charged in the proceedings but only in
respect of any specied offence with which that other person is charged; or
(b) to give evidence for the prosecution but only in respect of any specied offence with
which any person is charged in the proceedings.
(3) In relation to the spouse or civil partner of a person charged in any proceedings, an offence
is a specied offence for the purposes of subsection (2A) above if
(a) it involves an assault on, or injury or a threat of injury to, the spouse or civil partner or a
person who was at the material time under the age of 16;
(b) it is a sexual offence alleged to have been committed in respect of a person who was at
the material time under that age; or
(c) it consists of attempting or conspiring to commit, or of aiding, abetting, counselling, pro-
curing or inciting the commission of, an offence falling within paragraph (a) or (b) above.
(4) No person who is charged in any proceedings shall be compellable by virtue of subsection
(2) or (2A) above to give evidence in the proceedings.
(4A) References in this section to a person charged in any proceedings do not include a person
who is not, or is no longer, liable to be convicted of any offence in the proceedings (whether
as a result of pleading guilty or for any other reason).
(5) In any proceedings a person who has been but is no longer married to the accused shall be
compellable to give evidence as if that person and the accused had never been married.
[(5A) In any proceedings a person who has been but is no longer the civil partner of the accused
shall be compellable to give evidence as if that person and the accused had never been civil
partners.]
(6) Where in any proceedings the age of any person at any time is material for the purposes of
subsection (3) above, his age at the material time shall for the purposes of that provision be
deemed to be or to have been that which appears to the court to be or to have been his age
at that time.
(7) In subsection (3)(b) above sexual-offence means an offence under the Protection of
Children Act 1978 or Part 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
(9) Section 1(d) of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898.

It should immediately be noted that a husband or wife is always compellable to testify on behalf
of an accused spouse, by dint of s 80(2). * is is, of course, subject to the predictable exception,
set out in s 80(4), which provides that a spouse who is charged in the same proceedings as their
370 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

husband or wife, is not compellable to testify for them. * is is in conformity with the position
with regard to any other co-defendant. Obviously, without such a provision, a spouse, if forced
to give evidence, would have no choice as to whether to answer questions about their own
involvement in any alleged crime.
Section 80(4A) of the 1984 Act provides that a person charged does not include a person
who is not, or is no longer, liable to be convicted of any oS ence in the proceedings. Thus, if the
spouse of an accused person, who is also a defendant in the same proceedings, pleads guilty,
s/he is outside the ambit of s 80(4) and, consequently, is treated as an ordinary witness, and so
subject to the traditional rule of compellability for the defence.
Over the years, a number of diS erent rationales have been advanced for the spousal exemp-
tion from being compelled to give evidence for the prosecution. Several would no longer be
treated seriously. Nevertheless, the preservation of marital harmony is still considered to be
important. * us, in the pre-PCEA 1984 case of R v Hoskyn [1979] AC 474, Lord Salmon ascribed
the general exemption of a wife to: . . . the supreme importance attached by the common law to
the special status of marriage and to the unity supposed to exist between husband and wife. * e
judge also referred to the natural repugnance that the public would feel at seeing a wife give
evidence against her husband in many situations.
One major criticism of such a justiRcation is that the exemption only applies to those defend-
ants who are legally married. As a result, parties who are merely cohabiting with each other, no
matter for how long a period, are outside the scope of s 80 and are, accordingly, treated as ordin-
ary witnesses. An attempt in R v Pearce [2002] 1 Cr App R 39 to argue that respect for family life
under Article 8 of the ECHR required that long-term cohabiting partners be treated in the same
way as married spouses in this regard was swift ly rejected by the Court of Appeal, which saw
beneRts in restricting the number of potential witnesses who were not compellable to testify
and also in limiting uncertainty in this area of the law; it would be di$ cult to determine what
was a long-term relationship.

Pause for reection

In the modern era do you feel that this is a fair conclusion to reach on this issue?

R v Pearce [2002] 1 Cr App R 39, CA

Kennedy LJ
In any event we do not accept the proposition which underlies Mr Woods submissions in rela-
tion to this aspect of the case, namely that proper respect for family life as envisaged by Article 8
requires that a co-habitee of a defendant, whether or not married to him, should not be required to
give evidence or to answer questions about a statement which he has already made. This is plainly,
as Ms Joseph submits, an area where the interests of the family must be weighed against those
of the community at large, and it is precisely the sort of area in which the European Court defers
to the judgment of States in relation to their domestic courts. There may be much to be said for
the view that with very limited exceptions all witnesses who are competent should also be com-
pellable, and certainly the material before us does not enable us to conclude that because a con-
cession has been made to husbands and wives proper respect for family life requires that a similar
concession be made to those in the position of a husband or a wife. As Ms Joseph points out, if the
concession were to be widened it is not easy to see where, logically, the widening should end.
 co mpel l a bilit y 371

However, it should be noted that a civil partnership, between same sex couples, does have the
same evidential eS ect as marriage, as a result of s 84(1) of the Civil Partnership Act 2004. Th is
provides that any enactment or rule of law: . . . relating to the giving of evidence by a spouse
applies in relation to a civil partner as it applies in relation to the spouse. As a result, someone
in a subsisting civil partnership cannot normally be compelled to give evidence against their
partner. Additionally, it should be noted that, if a marriage has been celebrated abroad, it is
essential that it is recognized as valid under English law for the spousal exemption to apply.
* us, in R v Khan [1987] 84 Cr App R 44, a second Muslim marriage, made abroad, had no
legal consequences for the purposes of giving evidence.

R v Khan (1987) 84 Cr App R 44, CA

Glidewell LJ
. . . what is the position of a lady who has gone through a ceremony of marriage which under the
religious observances of a faith, and under the law of some other countries, is entirely valid, but
which, because it is a second polygamous marriage, is of no effect in the law of this country? In our
judgment the position so far as her ability and competence to give evidence is concerned is no dif-
ferent from that of a woman who has not been through a ceremony of marriage at all, or one who
has been through a ceremony of marriage which is void because it is bigamous. Exactly the same
principles in our view apply, and therefore we hold that the learned judge was entirely correct in
his reasoning in deciding that Hasina Patel was a competent witness for the prosecution, both in
respect of her husband and in respect of this appellant.

Provided that they are still legally married, it is irrelevant that the parties are separated from
each other or are no longer living in amity. Perhaps more logically, once divorced, the previ-
ous status of the witness/defendant, ie that they were once married but are now no longer so,
becomes irrelevant. * ey are treated as if they had never been married at all, by dint of s 80(5).
* e material time for determining whether a witness is a legal spouse of the person charged is
the point at which that person is called to testify.
Some academics have doubted whether the spousal exemption will apply to a marriage that
has been entered purely and cynically for that purpose (ie to prevent compellability for the pros-
ecution). However, it seems unlikely that it would not apply, both for theoretical and practical
reasons (it would not be easy to prove motive).

R Munday, Sham Marriages and Spousal Compellability (2001) J

Crim L, vol 65, no 4, 336348 (Extracts)
Another point to be borne in mind is that English law is now governed by legislation which must
be taken to have given proper consideration, both via PCEA and via the Youth Justice and Criminal
Evidence Act 1999 amendments, to the delicate task of balancing the maintenance of the institu-
tion of marriage against the public interest in the effective ght against crime. There is no history
of English courts inquiring into the reality of parties marriages, and there is no hint in the statute
that the courts should begin to do so. In any case, one might infer from the fact that s 80(5) of
PCEA regulates the position of parties who are no longer married to one another (those who are
divorced, whose marriages have been annulled, etc.), that had Parliament wished to insist that
372 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

s 80 only applies to marriages truly founded upon the understanding that the partners will observe
those mutual obligations of care and support upon which Minton J insisted in Lutwak, it would have
done so expressly.
Although this article has not explored the question, thorny, if not morally insoluble policy
choices lie at the root of spousal compellability. Section 80 of PCEA offers a crude but workable
accommodation between a desire to uphold the dignity of the married state and the need to pro-
mote the effective administration of criminal justice. As noted above, the drafting of s 80(3)(a), in
particular, offers the courts some leeway in determining the range of cases in which spouses may
be compelled to testify against one another. It would undoubtedly be improper for the courts
simply to employ this looseness of legislative language as a means of circumventing marriages
that looked to be shams. However, should the courts elect to give a generous construction to the
concept of an offence which involves an assault on, or injury or threat of injury to the spouse, the
issue of sham marriages would lose some of its force simply because such an interpretation would
signicantly diminish the potential pool of serious offences in which it would be likely to arise.

Indeed, it also appears that there is no power to prevent a prisoner from marrying, even where
there is a suspicion that it is being done for the purpose of taking advantage of the spousal
exemption, as the following case, involving a defendant who wished to marry a prosecution
witness (also his partner) in a murder case, suggests.

R (On the Application of the Crown Prosecution Service) v Registrar

General of Births, Marriages and Deaths [2003] QB 1222, CA

Waller LJ

The right to marry has always been a right recognised by the laws of this country long before the
Human Rights Act 1998 came into force. The right of course is also enshrined in article 12 of the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It has more
recently been held that prisoners are not to be denied that right in the cases cited by the judge.
The right, furthermore, must not be denied to Miss B who has indeed born a child to J. It seems to
me that the right of marriage carries with it the incidences of marriage, including that the wife may
not be compelled to give evidence against her husband or vice versa.

It should be noted that, in England, there is no requirement that the police tell a wife that she
is not a compellable witness before interviewing her about a crime of which her husband is sus-
pected (and, of course, vice versa). This is quite important as, if the wife subsequently invokes
the right not to testify, the earlier statement might still be admitted as evidence in its own right
under the inclusionary discretion for hearsay contained in s 114(1)(d) CJA 2003: R v L [2009] 1
WLR 626. Nevertheless, as Lord Phillips CJ also noted in this case, if such a warning has been
given, it may make it more likely that it will be deemed to be in the interests of justice to admit
a spousal statement under s 114(1)(d).
In R v L [2009] 1 WLR 626, the complainant had made a number of allegations against her
father, including one of rape, allegedly committed some ten days earlier. She claimed that,
 co mpel l a bilit y 373

during this incident, the defendant had ejaculated on the floor and on a sofa, claims that were
subsequently substantiated by forensic examination. However, the defendant accounted for this
by saying that he had had intercourse with his wife on and about the sofa at that time. While he
was still being held in custody the police approached his wife and took a statement from her, in
which she denied having had sexual intercourse with her husband on the night in question, or
ever having had intercourse anywhere other than in their bedroom. Potentially, this was very
damaging to her husbands case. However, when the matter came for trial, the wife refused to
give evidence for the prosecution against her spouse.
As the daughter was over the age of 16 years (she was 19), the wife was not compellable under
s 80 PCEA 1984. Nevertheless, the Crown was allowed to adduce her earlier statement to the
police, as an exception to the hearsay rule, under the discretion contained in s 114(1)(d) CJA
2003.
In other circumstances, the fact that the maker of a statement was available in court to con-
trovert it, and that it had been recorded in a reliable format in near contemporaneous circum-
stances (as was the situation in L), might well have justiRed it being adduced under s 114(1)
(d). However, in the instant case it could be argued that allowing the statement to be admitted
undermined the general spousal privilege not to testify against a marital partner. Nevertheless,
the Court of Appeal concluded that compelling a wife to testify against her husband was not the
same thing as permitting another witness to adduce a voluntary statement that she had made
on an earlier occasion.

R v L [2009] 1 WLR 626, CA

Lord Phillips CJ
To caution a wife before taking evidence from her could inhibit the investigation of crime. We do
not think that the policy that prevents a wife from giving evidence against her husband requires
such a limitation upon the powers of investigation of the police to be implied . . . we have concluded
that there is no requirement to tell a wife that she is not a compellable witness against her husband
before interviewing her about a crime of which her husband is suspected. Having said that, it does
not follow that there may not be circumstances in which the police will be well advised to make
it plain to a wife that she need not make a statement that implicates her husband. If a question is
raised, as it has been in this case, as to whether it is in accordance with the interests of justice to
admit a wifes statement, the prosecutions hand is likely to be strengthened if it can show that
the wife made her statement voluntarily, having been expressly informed that she was under no
obligation to make it.

Changes in the general nature of society, in patterns of cohabitation, in the way in which mar-
riage is widely viewed, and in perceptions of the social need to prosecute crime eS ectively, have
cast considerable doubt on whether it is appropriate to preserve a marital exemption from com-
pellability in the modern era. However, alternative approaches, whether making exemption
entirely a matter of judicial discretion, one that is purely dependant on a judges perception of
the nature of a relationship (and consequently uncertain as to its application), or, alternatively,
abolishing it altogether, also pose serious problems.
374 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

Deirdre Dwyer, Can a Marriage be Delayed in the Public Interest So

as to Maintain the Compellability of a Prosecution Witness?: R (On
the Application of the Crown Prosecution Service) v Registrar General
of Births, Marriages and Deaths [2003] E & P, vol 7, no 3, 191196
(Extract)
At the time of the Criminal Evidence Act 1898, marriage was the dominant form of long-term sexual
relationship, and marriage was all but indissoluble. There were (at least in the eyes of Parliament)
few unmarried families, and it was unlikely that two people would enter into marriage simply to
invoke the privilege of incompetence and non-compellability. Following Pearce (which was not
referred to in judgments in the instant case), B would have been a compellable prosecution wit-
ness against her partner of seven years. By marrying J, she ceased to be compellable. There is no
reason why J and B could not divorce by mutual arrangement soon after Js trial, having made use
of that privilege. Conversely, if J and B had been married but separated for seven years, B would
have automatically been non-compellable (subject to the exceptions of specic offences). In this
case, the Court of Appeal would appear to have sought to prioritise the right to marriage over the
effective running of the criminal justice system. It has been submitted that to have done otherwise
would have been to breach J and Bs Convention rights.
One possible solution, suggested by Andrew Choo, is to follow the approach taken in Australia
by the Evidence Act 1995. In all cases, except those concerning domestic violence and particular
offences against children, s. 18 of that Act provides that the question of prosecution compellabil-
ity for spouse, de facto spouse, parent and child is subject to the courts discretion. The court
shall consider (s. 18(7)) the nature and gravity of the offence, the substance and weight of any evi-
dence, whether other evidence is reasonably available, the relationship between defendant and
witness, and whether a matter might have to be disclosed that was received in condence. The
merit of such an approach is that it avoids scenarios in which marriage is used to gain privilege, or
where the accused and witness feel that marriage is forced upon them as a means to protect their
relationship. The demerit is that it encroaches further on Article 8 rights, in that the police, the
Crown Prosecution Service and the court will be required to investigate and scrutinise the private
lives of the accused and of certain witnesses as part of the criminal justice process.

Pause for reection

Do you feel that, in the modern era, it is appropriate that spouses or civil partners should ever be
allowed not to testify for the prosecution against their partners?

Spousal Compellability for the Prosecution/Co-accused

* e rules governing those rare situations in which a defendants spouse is compellable for the
prosecution or for a co-defendant are the same, and so may be considered together. Although
the general rule is that a spouse is not compellable to testify for either of these parties, this is sub-
ject to the major statutory exceptions set out in s 80(2A) and (3) of the PCEA 1984, as amended
by Sch 4 of the YJCEA 1999. This establishes a limited number of speciRed oS ences, found in
s 80(3)(a)(c), where a spouse is compellable to give evidence; they constitute an attempt by
 co mpel l a bilit y 375

Parliament to balance the perceived need for the institution of marriage to be respected, and
marital harmony preserved, against the desirability that certain types of crime be prosecuted
effectively.
* e original legislation was heavily, if belatedly, influenced by the recommendations of the
Criminal Law Revision Committees 11th Report of 1972. It was particularly aimed at address-
ing domestic violence and sexual abuse. * e speciRed oS ences comprise: those involving an
assault on, or injury (including threats of injury) to the wife or husband of the accused person,
or to a victim who was under the age of 16 years at the material time; a sexual oS ence, as deRned
in s 80(7) of the Act, alleged to have been committed against a person under the age of 16 at the
material time (such as rape or indecent assault); or being charged as an accessory, in any fash-
ion, to the commission of the above offences.
It should be noted that the expression, oS ences involving an assault, although somewhat
vague, appears to be wider than a simple charge of assault. For example, it would seem to extend
to situations in which a drunken husband robbed his wife of cash to fund a visit to a public
house, as robbery necessarily entails the use or threat of violence. However, in this situation, in
order to make the spouse compellable to testify for the co-accused or the prosecution, s/he must
be a victim of the oS ence; for example, the victim in a case of domestic violence. By contrast,
if a spouse witnesses a child under the age of 16 being the victim of an assault perpetrated by
their husband or wife, it does not matter that s/he is not a child of the spouses family or house-
hold. * is is broader than the provision originally proposed by the Criminal Law Revision
Committee. * us, if a man were to assault the 14-year-old offspring of a neighbour, in the pres-
ence of his own wife, she would be compellable for the prosecution in any ensuing trial.
Of course, the dividing line inevitably produces certain anomalies. For example, if a man
slapped his neighbours 15-year-old daughter, his wife would be compellable to give evidence
on the matter; if he raped her sixteen-year-old sister, she would not. It should also be noted that
the limitation enacted in s 80(4) is equally applicable in this context. Thus, if the spouse of the
accused is also charged with an oS ence in the proceedings (for example, she aided and abetted
the attack on the neighbours child), she is not competent to testify for the prosecution, and not
compellable to testify for the co-accused.

Waiving the Spousal Exemption

Although a spouse is not compellable to testify for the prosecution against their husband or
wife (in most situations) or for a co-defendant, they may, of course, waive that right and elect
to give evidence (as they are always competent to testify). * is is an important step. Once they
make this decision, they cannot later refuse to answer questions in the witness box, simply
because they were not initially obliged to enter it. However, to waive their right not to testify
they must also first be aware of it. In the past, this led to a rule of practice whereby a trial judge
would warn a spouse, in the absence of the jury, that s/he was not required to testify: R v Acaster
(1912) 7 Cr App R 187. In this case, Darling J observed that: In any case where the spouse of the
accused comes to give evidence against her husband, the judge ought to ask her, Do you know
you may object to give evidence? In the case of R v Pitt [1983] QB 25, the Court of Appeal noted
that this warning should be given before the individual takes the oath.
In Pitt, the defendant was charged, on two counts, with assault occasioning actual bodily
harm to his baby daughter. His wife made a police statement implicating the defendant. At his
trial, she was called to testify for the prosecution. However, the trial judge failed to inform her
376 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

that she was not compellable to give evidence for the prosecution (as the law then stood; this is
no longer the case, as a baby is obviously under the age of 16 years). She reluctantly testiRed, but
during her evidence in chief she gave answers that were inconsistent with her earlier statement.
* e judge then granted the prosecution leave to treat her as a hostile witness and the prosecutor
was allowed to cross-examine her. * e defendant was convicted and appealed to the Court of
Appeal on the basis that his wife had not appreciated that she did not have to testify. * e Court
of Appeal allowed the appeal because the trial judge had failed to inform the witness that she
was not required to testify. Although decided before the advent of the Police and Criminal
Evidence Act 1984, this decision still appears to be good law.

Cross-reference Box
A hostile witness is a witness who bears a hostile animus, for whatever reason, to the party call-
ing him, and who, as a result, does not give the evidence expected of him. In such situations, the
witness can be declared hostile by the judge, and some of the normal restrictions placed on a
calling party during examination in chief, such as the rule against asking leading questions, are
then relaxed. Hostile witnesses are discussed in greater detail at pp 401406.

R v Pitt [1983] QB 25, CA

Pain J

This case illustrates very powerfully why it is necessary for the trial judge to make certain that the
wife understands her position before she takes the oath. Had that been done here, there would
have been no difculty. Up to a point where she goes into the witness box, W [the wife] has a
choice: she may refuse to give evidence or waive her right of refusal. The waiver is effective only if
made with full knowledge of her right to refuse. If she waives her right of refusal, she becomes an
ordinary witness. Once W has started upon her evidence, she must complete it. It is not open to
her to retreat behind the barrier of non-compellability if she is asked questions that she does not
want to answer. This makes it particularly important that W should understand when she takes the
oath that she is waiving her right to refuse to give evidence.

Of course, if a wife is reluctant to give evidence because she is afraid to do so, it might be pos-
sible to admit an earlier statement, made to (for example) the police, under s 116(2)(e) of the
Criminal Justice Act 2003, as an exception to the hearsay rule.

Cross-reference Box
Any statement that has been made out of court, and which is tendered as evidence of the truth
of its contents at trial, constitutes hearsay evidence. In criminal cases such statements can only
be adduced if they come within a statutory or (preserved) common law exception to the rule,
or alternatively, are admitted via an exercise of the judicial discretion under s 114(1)(d) of the
Criminal Justice Act 2003. For more on this go to pp 248276.
 co mpel l a bilit y 377

Summary

Competence governs the ability of a witness to testify, ie whether the witness can be heard by the
court.
In the modern era, most witnesses are competent to give evidence in both civil and criminal mat-
ters. However, very small children, and those with limited intellectual functioning, may not meet
the designated tests set out in the YJCEA 1999 in criminal cases. In civil matters, adults who do not
understand the sanction of taking an oath, and children who do not satisfy the more modest test
set out in s 96 of the Children Act 1989, will also not be competent to testify.
Compellability governs whether a potential witness can be forced to give evidence, even if they do
not wish to do so. This is usually effected by an order of the court, disobedience to which can be
punished as a contempt.
The normal rule is that competent witnesses are also compellable. However, there are a few excep-
tions to this general position. Most importantly, the spouse of a defendant in a criminal matter can
only be compelled to give evidence against their partner in the limited situations set out in s 80(3)
of the PCEA 1984. These attempt to balance the social need to prosecute crime with respecting
the institution of marriage, and only force a spouse to give evidence where s/he is the victim of an
assault or the offence involves a child under the age of 16.
When it comes to compellability, a civil partner is treated in the same way as a spouse by dint of s 84
of the Civil Partnership Act 2004. However, unmarried partners, no matter how long-standing their
relationship, and those who, although previously married, are now divorced, are treated in exactly
the same manner as any other type of witness for the purposes of compellability.
Witnesses normally either swear an oath or afrm, before testifying. However, in criminal cases,
children under 14, and those above this age (including adults) with intellectual handicaps or de -
ciencies who, as a result, do not reach the test set out in s 55 of the YJCEA 1999 for taking an oath,
but who are, nevertheless, capable of giving intelligible evidence, can testify unsworn. Similarly,
children in civil cases who do not satisfy the common law test for taking an oath set out in Hayes,
but can meet the test set out in s 96 of the Children Act 1989, are allowed to give unsworn testimony.
However, adults must give evidence on oath in civil matters.
Afrmation has the same legal effectsfor example, with regard to subsequent prosecutions for
perjuryas taking the oath, but does not employ a religious sanction in its wording.

Further reading

P Creighton, Spouse Competence and Compellability [1990] Crim LR 34

D Dwyer, Can a Marriage be Delayed in the Public Interest so as to Maintain the Compellability of a
Prosecution Witness?: R (On the Application of the Crown Prosecution Service) v Registrar General of
Births, Marriages and Deaths [2003] E & P, vol 7, no 3, 191196
A Gillespie, Compellability of a Child Victim (2000) J Crim L, vol 64, no 1, 98105
D Jones, The Evidence of a Three-Year-Old Child [1987] Crim LR 677
R Munday, Sham Marriages and Spousal Compellability (2001) J Crim L, vol 65, no 4, 336348
JR Spencer and R Flin, The Evidence of Children: The Law and the Psychology (2nd edn, 2003,
Blackstone Press)
 378 c ompet enc e a nd c ompel lab il ity

Questions for Further Discussion

1. Amanda tells the police that she has been raped by her husband, Bertie. However, shortly
before trial, Amanda tells the police that she does not want to give evidence. The CPS wish to
proceed with the case, and ask for advice as to whether she can be compelled to testify against
For suggested Bertie.
approaches,
Advise the CPS.
please visit
the Online 2. Fred is an intelligent four-year-old; he sees his mother being stabbed to death by a neigh-
Resource bour, George, with whom she was having a stormy affair. Will Fred be allowed to testify against
Centre
George?

3. Arthur is accused of assaulting Boris, the 12-year-old son of one of his neighbours, occa-
sioning actual bodily harm, after he caught Boris scrumping [stealing] apples in his orchard.
Claudia, Arthurs wife, was with him when the incident occurred and made a statement to the
police, incriminating her husband, shortly afterwards. However, she has since informed the CPS
that she does not wish to testify against her spouse.
Advise the CPS.

4. Is it right that a married person should be exempt from being compelled to give evidence
against their spouse, except in the most limited circumstances? Should these circumstances be
expanded or reduced, and how should other social relationships be treated in this respect?

5. Percy is suing Quincy in his local County Court, accusing Quincy of knocking him (Percy) down
with a mechanized lawnmower, inicting moderately serious injuries in the process. Quincy
denies that he was involved in any such collision. The incident was witnessed by Rachel, a seven-
year-old girl, and Simon, a local simpleton who suffered a brain injury at birth (50 years earlier).
Both of these people identied Quincy as the driver of the lawnmower. Will Percy be allowed to
call Rachel and Quincy to give evidence?

6. Maurice and Nick are civil partners. Nick is accused of assaulting Maurice during an argument
over burnt toast, occasioning actual bodily harm in the process. Maurice, who made a lengthy
written statement to the police about the incident, is now very reluctant to testify for the pros-
ecution against his partner, but the police and CPS are keen to proceed.
Advise Nick.