Also known as: viva-voce · oral evidence · oral testimony
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An adverbial phrase meaning by word of mouth or orally. It describes testimony or statements presented directly by a witness in open court rather than through written affidavits or depositions.
Metro Components alleges Apex Motors signed a three-year requirements contract later destroyed in a flood. At trial Metro offers employee testimony describing the signed writing's terms. The court admits the viva voce evidence to establish the memorandum's contents because loss of the document does not defeat enforceability.
After a car accident Victor Vargas is arrested and a blood sample is taken without his consent. At trial the prosecution presents viva voce testimony from the technician who drew the sample. The defense objects that the oral account violates self-incrimination protections.
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Valor Capital sues a borrower in federal court over a loan default. The defendant seeks to introduce live witness statements about the loan terms. The court requires the viva voce presentation because the claim is equitable and the facts lie outside the written record.
Vanessa Vinson sues an insurer after her husband disappears. She offers viva voce testimony from a witness who heard the husband declare an intent to travel. The court admits the oral statement to prove the declarant's state of mind at the time.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals faces a grand jury subpoena for partnership documents. A partner testifies viva voce that the records belong to the firm rather than to him personally. The court evaluates the oral testimony to determine whether the Fifth Amendment applies.
Virgil Volpe applies for a property tax exemption and the assessor denies the claim. At the administrative hearing Volpe presents viva voce testimony explaining his charitable use of the land. The board weighs the live statements against the written application.
The statute of frauds is not a rule of evidence. Once a sufficient signed writing existed, its later loss or destruction does not render the contract unenforceable. Courts therefore permit viva voce testimony or secondary writings to establish the memorandum's contents.
Yes. The rule that witnesses must testify from personal knowledge works together with the hearsay ban to ensure that live testimony rests on firsthand observation rather than secondhand reports.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(c) expressly authorizes the court to hear such a motion wholly or partly on oral testimony or depositions.
The phrase means by word of mouth or orally, and in the context of witness examination it refers to oral rather than written testimony.
…in the light to be shed by grammar and the dictionary. . . appear to signify simply that nobody shall be compelled to give oral testimony against himself in a criminal proceeding under way in which he is defendant." Corwin, The Supreme Court's Construction of the Self-Incrimination Clause, 29 Mich. L. Rev. 1, 2. And there is…