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Hearsay is the legal term for certain statements—offered as evidence during a trial or hearing for the purpose of attempting to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statements—that were not made while testifying at the trial or hearing itself. In general, the witness will attempt to make a statement such as, "Sally told me Tom was in town" (for the purpose of proving that Tom was indeed "in town"), as opposed to "I saw Tom in town." Hearsay is not allowed as evidence in the United States, unless one of nearly thirty〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/more-criminal-topics/evidence-witnesses/hearsay-evidence.html )〕 exceptions applies to the particular statement being made. The hearsay rule is an analytic rule of evidence that defines hearsay and provides for both exceptions and exemptions from that rule. There is no all-encompassing definition of hearsay in the United States. However, most evidentiary codes defining hearsay adopt verbatim the rule as laid out in the Federal Rules of Evidence, which generally defines hearsay as an out-of-court statement introduced to prove the truth of the matter asserted. "Out-of-court" is shorthand for any statement other than one made under oath and in front of the factfinder (the jury, or the judge in a bench trial) during the same proceeding in which it is being offered in evidence. "Matter asserted" means the matter asserted in the statement offered into evidence, not the matter "asserted" by the party offering the evidence. Evidence typically is introduced to support not just one proposition but a series of propositions, linked together in an inferential chain. If ''any one'' of the propositions in the inferential chain is "the truth of the matter asserted" in the out-of-court statement, the evidence falls within the traditional definition of hearsay. The declarant is the person that makes the out-of-court statement — not the person bringing the action (lawsuit). Note: In ''hearsay'' law, "witness" means someone who testifies under oath, from the witness stand and "declarant" refers to someone who makes a statement of any kind, whether or not under oath, and whether in or out of court (according to the Federal Rules of Evidence). In ''everyday'' law, "witness" means someone who sees or observes something and "declarant" means someone who says something under oath. The distinctions in the definitions of these words is important to consider in hearsay law. F.R.E. 801: Hearsay is a statement that the declarant does not make while testifying at the current trial or hearing; and a party offers that statement in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statement. (F.R.E. refers to the Federal Rules of Evidence) Historically, the rule against hearsay was aimed at prohibiting the use of another person's statement, as equivalent to testimony by the witness to the fact. Unless the second person is brought to testify in court where they may be placed under oath and cross-examined, the factfinder cannot gauge the witness' credibility. ==Theory== The theory of the rule excluding hearsay is that assertions made by human beings are often unreliable; such statements are often insincere, subject to flaws in memory and perception, or infected with errors in narration at the time they are given. Furthermore, someone testifying in court regarding another's out-of-court statement may have misheard or misremembered that statement, in addition to possibly having misinterpreted the speaker's sincerity, etc. The law therefore finds it necessary to subject this form of evidence to "scrutiny or analysis calculated to discover and expose in detail its possible weaknesses, and thus to enable the tribunal (judge or jury) to estimate it at no more than its actual value".〔Wigmore on Evidence §1360〕 Three tests are calculated to expose possible weaknesses in a statement: # Assertions must be taken under oath # Assertions must be made in front of the tribunal (judge or jury) # Assertions must be subject to cross-examination. Assertions not subject to these three tests are (with some exceptions) prohibited insofar as they are offered testimonially (for the truth of what they assert). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hearsay in United States law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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