A New Perspective on the Status of a Witness’s Moral Integrity and Its Means of Verification in Iranian Law and Jurisprudence

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 PhD Student of Private Law, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

The Note to Article 195 of the Islamic Penal Code states, albeit in vague terms, that merely having a “good outward appearance” (ḥusn-i ẓāhir) is insufficient for testifying the moral integrity of the witness. This Note states that affirming the uprightness and attesting the purity (taʿdīl and tazkiyah) of a witness requires actual knowledge and certainty. However, given the jurisprudential foundations of this Article, it may be argued that unlike the case of attesting the purity (shuhūd-i tazkiyah), the judge can rely on the witness’s good outward appearance as a binding legal presumption (amāra-yi taʿabbudī) of their integrity and therefore accept their testimony as clearly valid (bayyini-yi sharʿī). However, since social relations have expanded today, it is rare for a judge to personally know the witness by their good outward appearance and integrity and to speak of clear validity (bayyini-yi sharʿī) and its binding evidentiary effects. Therefore, the judge is allowed to treat such testimonies as a judicial presumption (amāra-yi qażāʾī), and with a rational and non-binding method of ascertaining the truth. In such cases, criteria such as the required number of witnesses and the type of conflict become irrelevant, and the value of the witness’s testimony depends on whether it convinces the judge to a degree of certainty or probability (ẓann).

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 04 February 2023
  • Revise Date: 08 November 2023
  • Accept Date: 29 August 2023

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