ENACTMENT No. 8 of 2004 SYARIAH COURT EVIDENCE (STATE OF PENANG) ENACTMENT 2004
PART I - RELEVANCY CHAPTER 1 - PRELIMINARY
Section 3. Interpretation.
(1) In this Enactment, unless the context otherwise requires—
“`aqil” means of sound mind;
“baligh” means having attained the age of puberty in accordance with Islamic Law;
“bayyinah” means evidence which proves a right or interest and includes qarinah;
“document” means any matter expressed, described, or howsoever represented, upon any substance, material, thing or article, including any matter embodied in a disc, tape, film, sound track or other device whatsoever, by means of—
(a) letters, figures, marks, symbols, signals, signs, or other forms of expression, description, or
representation whatsoever;
(b) any visual recording (whether of still or moving images);
(c) any sound recording, or any electronic, magnetic, mechanical or other recording whatsoever and
howsoever made, or any sounds, electronic impulses, or other data whatsoever;
(d) a recording, or transmission, over a distance of any matter by any, or any combination, of the means mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c),
or by more than one of the means mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b),(c) and (d), intended to be used or which may be used for the purpose of expressing, describing, or howsoever representing, that matter;
ILLUSTRATIONS
A writing is a document.
Words printed, lithographed or photographed are documents.
A map, plan, graph or sketch is a document.
An inscription on wood, metal, stone or any other substance, material or thing is a document.
A drawing, painting, picture or caricature is a document.
A photograph or a negative is a document.
A tape recording of a telephonic communication, including a recording of such communication
transmitted over a distance, is a document.
A photographic or other visual recording, including a recording of photographic or other visual transmission over a distance, is a document.
A matter recorded, stored, processed, retrieved or produced by a computer is a document;
“Administration Enactment” means the Administration of Islamic Law Enactment (State of Penang) 2004;
“fact” means and includes—
(a) any thing, state of things or relation of things capable of being perceived by the senses;
(b)any mental condition of which any person is conscious;
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) That there are certain objects arranged in a certain order in a certain place is a fact.
(b)That a person heard or saw something is a fact.
(c) That a person said certain words is a fact.
(d) That a person holds a certain opinion, has a certain intention, acts in good faith or fraudulently, or uses a particular word in a particular sense, or is or was at a specified time conscious of a particular sensation is a fact.
(e) That a person has a certain reputation is a fact;
“fact in issue” means any fact from which, either by itself or in connection with other facts, the existence, nonexistence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding necessarily follows;
ILLUSTRATION
A is charged for an offence of khalwat with B.
At his trial the following facts may be in issue:
thatA and B were together in a closed room;
that A and B were together in a vehicle parked in a dark place;
“film” means and includes a microfilm and any negative;
“Syarie Judge” or “Judge” means a Judge of the Syariah High Court or the Syariah Subordinate Court, as the case may be, appointed under subsection 58(1) or 59(1) of the Administration Enactment;
“Syariah Appeal Court Judge” means a Syariah Appeal Court Judge appointed under subsection 57(1) of the
Administration Enactment;
“Islamic Law” means Hukum Syarak according to Mazhab Syafie or any of Mazhab Maliki, Hanafi or Hambali;
“evidence” includes—
(a)bayyinah and syahadah;
(b) all statements which the Court permits or requires to be made before it by a witness in relation to matters of fact under inquiry: such statements are called oral evidence;
(c) all documents produced for the inspection of the Court: such documents are called documentary
evidence;
“computer” means any device for recording, storing, processing, retrieving or producing any information or other matter, or for performing any one or more of those functions, by whatever name or description such device is called; and where two or more computers carry out any one or more ofthose functions in combination or in succession or otherwise howsoever conjointly, they shall be treated as a single
computer;
“Syariah Court” or “Court” means the Syariah High Court or the Syariah Subordinate Court, as the case may be, established under subsection 55(1) or 55(2) of the Administration Enactment;
“Syariah Appeal Court” means the Syariah Appeal Court established under subsection 55(3) of the Administration Enactment;
“microfilm” means any transparent material bearing a visual image in reduced size either singly or as a series and includes a microfiche;
“negative” means a transparent negative photograph on any substance or material, and includes any transparent negative photograph made from the original negative photograph;
“Peguam Syarie” means a person appointed as Peguam Syarie under section 60 of the Administration Enactment;
“qarinah” means fact connected with the other fact in any of ways referred to in this Enactment;
“witness” does not include a plaintiff, defendant and an accused person;
“syahadah” means any evidence adduced in Court by uttering the expression “asyhadu” to establish a right or interest;
“`urf ” means custom or practice recognized by society or certain class of people whether in the form of word or deed.
(2) In this Enactment—
(a) a fact is said to be “disproved” when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either
believes that it does not exist or considers its nonexistence so probable that a prudent man ought,
under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does not exist;
(b) a fact is said to be “not proved” when such fact is neither “proved” nor “disproved” according to this Enactment;
(c) a fact is said to be “proved” when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes it to exist or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it exists.
(3) For the avoidance of doubt as to the identity or interpretation of the words and expressions used in this
Enactment that are listed in the Schedule, reference may be made to the Arabic Script for those words and expressions as shown against them therein.