S. 53 applied (with modifications) (6.12.2006) by The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Application to Courts-Martial) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2886), art. 1(1), Sch. 1 (with art. 3)

S. 53 applied (with modifications) (6.12.2006) by The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Application to Standing Civilian Courts) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2888), art. 1(1), Sch. 1 (with art. 3)

S. 53 applied (with modifications) (6.12.2006) by The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Application to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2887), art. 1(1), Sch. (with art. 3)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999An Act to provide for the referral of offenders under 18 to youth offender panels; to make provision in connection with the giving of evidence or information for the purposes of criminal proceedings; to amend section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; to make pre-consolidation amendments relating to youth justice; and for connected purposes.1999-08-06texttext/xmlenStatute Law Database2024-05-17Expert Participation2006-12-06Part II Giving of evidence or information for purposes of criminal proceedingsChapter V Competence of witnesses and capacity to be sworn Competence of witnesses
53 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 proceedings 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).

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
<akomaNtoso xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0" xsi:schemaLocation="http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0 http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/akn-core/v1.0/cos01/part2-specs/schemas/akomantoso30.xsd">
<portion includedIn="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23">
<meta>
<identification source="#source">
<FRBRWork>
<FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23"/>
<FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23"/>
<FRBRdate date="1999-07-27" name="enacted"/>
<FRBRauthor href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/legislature/UnitedKingdomParliament"/>
<FRBRcountry value="GB-UKM"/>
<FRBRnumber value="23"/>
<FRBRname value="1999 c. 23"/>
<FRBRprescriptive value="true"/>
</FRBRWork>
<FRBRExpression>
<FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06"/>
<FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/2006-12-06"/>
<FRBRdate date="2006-12-06" name="validFrom"/>
<FRBRauthor href="#source"/>
<FRBRlanguage language="eng"/>
</FRBRExpression>
<FRBRManifestation>
<FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.akn"/>
<FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/2006-12-06/data.akn"/>
<FRBRdate date="2024-11-20Z" name="transform"/>
<FRBRauthor href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk"/>
<FRBRformat value="application/akn+xml"/>
</FRBRManifestation>
</identification>
<lifecycle source="#source">
<eventRef date="1999-07-27" type="generation" eId="enacted-date" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2002-07-24" type="amendment" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2009-10-31" type="amendment" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2006-12-06" eId="effective-date-1" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2007-01-08" eId="effective-date-2" source="#source"/>
<eventRef date="2009-10-31" eId="effective-date-3" source="#source"/>
</lifecycle>
<analysis source="#source">
<restrictions source="#source">
<restriction refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
<restriction href="#part-II" refersTo="#e+w+s+ni" type="jurisdiction"/>
<restriction href="#part-II-chapter-V" refersTo="#e+w" type="jurisdiction"/>
</restrictions>
</analysis>
<temporalData source="#source">
<temporalGroup eId="period1">
<timeInterval start="#effective-date-1" refersTo="#period-concept1"/>
</temporalGroup>
<temporalGroup eId="period2">
<timeInterval start="#effective-date-1" end="#effective-date-2" refersTo="#period-concept2"/>
</temporalGroup>
<temporalGroup eId="period3">
<timeInterval start="#effective-date-1" end="#effective-date-3" refersTo="#period-concept3"/>
</temporalGroup>
</temporalData>
<references source="#source">
<TLCOrganization eId="source" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/publisher/StatuteLawDatabase" showAs="Statute Law Database"/>
<passiveRef href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2009/25" showAs="Coroners and Justice Act 2009"/>
<TLCLocation eId="e+w+s+ni" href="/ontology/jurisdictions/uk.EnglandWalesScotlandNorthernIreland" showAs="England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland"/>
<TLCLocation eId="e+w" href="/ontology/jurisdictions/uk.EnglandWales" showAs="England, Wales"/>
<TLCConcept eId="period-concept1" href="/ontology/time/2006.12.06" showAs="since 2006-12-06"/>
<TLCConcept eId="period-concept2" href="/ontology/time/2006.12.06-2007.01.08" showAs="from 2006-12-06 until 2007-01-08"/>
<TLCConcept eId="period-concept3" href="/ontology/time/2006.12.06-2009.10.31" showAs="from 2006-12-06 until 2009-10-31"/>
</references>
<notes source="#source">
<note class="commentary C" eId="key-427d1ab0452081dbff42735f0eccca81">
<p>
S. 53 applied (with modifications) (6.12.2006) by
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2886">The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Application to Courts-Martial) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2886)</ref>
,
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2886/article/1/1">art. 1(1)</ref>
,
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2886/schedule/1">Sch. 1</ref>
(with
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2886/article/3">art. 3</ref>
)
</p>
</note>
<note class="commentary C" eId="key-b74aa8662952a5f5cd3f31874886958e">
<p>
S. 53 applied (with modifications) (6.12.2006) by
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2888">The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Application to Standing Civilian Courts) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2888)</ref>
,
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2888/article/1/1">art. 1(1)</ref>
,
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2888/schedule/1">Sch. 1</ref>
(with
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2888/article/3">art. 3</ref>
)
</p>
</note>
<note class="commentary C" eId="key-9e306368d6a7d659ce4da8f91530d979">
<p>
S. 53 applied (with modifications) (6.12.2006) by
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2887">The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (Application to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2887)</ref>
,
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2887/article/1/1">art. 1(1)</ref>
,
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2887/schedule">Sch.</ref>
(with
<ref href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2006/2887/article/3">art. 3</ref>
)
</p>
</note>
</notes>
<proprietary xmlns:ukl="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/legislation" xmlns:ukm="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/metadata" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" source="#source">
<ukl:RestrictStartDate value="2006-12-06"/>
<ukl:RestrictEndDate value="2007-01-08"/>
<dc:identifier>http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06</dc:identifier>
<dc:title>Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999</dc:title>
<dc:description>An Act to provide for the referral of offenders under 18 to youth offender panels; to make provision in connection with the giving of evidence or information for the purposes of criminal proceedings; to amend section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; to make pre-consolidation amendments relating to youth justice; and for connected purposes.</dc:description>
<dc:date>1999-08-06</dc:date>
<dc:type>text</dc:type>
<dc:format>text/xml</dc:format>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:publisher>Statute Law Database</dc:publisher>
<dc:modified>2024-05-17</dc:modified>
<dc:contributor>Expert Participation</dc:contributor>
<dct:valid>2006-12-06</dct:valid>
<atom:link rel="self" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.xml" type="application/xml"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/resources" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/resources" title="More Resources"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/notes" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/notes" title="Explanatory Notes"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/notes/toc" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/notes/contents" title="Explanatory Notes Table of Contents"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/act" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/2006-12-06" title="whole act"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/introduction" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/introduction/2006-12-06" title="introduction"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/body" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/body/2006-12-06" title="body"/>
<atom:link rel="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/def/navigation/schedules" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/schedules/2006-12-06" title="schedules"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/rdf+xml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.rdf" title="RDF/XML"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/akn+xml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.akn" title="AKN"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/xhtml+xml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.xht" title="HTML snippet"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.htm" title="Website (XHTML) Default View"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="text/csv" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.csv" title="CSV"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/pdf" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.pdf" title="PDF"/>
<atom:link rel="alternate" type="application/akn+xhtml" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2006-12-06/data.html" title="HTML5 snippet"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/tableOfContents" hreflang="en" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/contents/2006-12-06" title="Table of Contents"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/replaces" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2002-07-24" title="2002-07-24"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReplacedBy" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2009-10-31" title="2009-10-31"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/enacted" title="enacted"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2002-07-24" title="2002-07-24"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/2009-10-31" title="2009-10-31"/>
<atom:link rel="http://purl.org/dc/terms/hasVersion" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53" title="current"/>
<atom:link rel="up" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/2006-12-06" title="Entire legislation"/>
<atom:link rel="prev" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/52/2006-12-06" title="Provision; Section 52"/>
<atom:link rel="prevInForce" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/52/2006-12-06" title="Provision; Section 52"/>
<atom:link rel="next" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/54/2006-12-06" title="Provision; Section 54"/>
<atom:link rel="nextInForce" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/54/2006-12-06" title="Provision; Section 54"/>
<ukm:PrimaryMetadata>
<ukm:DocumentClassification>
<ukm:DocumentCategory Value="primary"/>
<ukm:DocumentMainType Value="UnitedKingdomPublicGeneralAct"/>
<ukm:DocumentStatus Value="revised"/>
</ukm:DocumentClassification>
<ukm:Year Value="1999"/>
<ukm:Number Value="23"/>
<ukm:EnactmentDate Date="1999-07-27"/>
<ukm:ISBN Value="0105423998"/>
<ukm:UnappliedEffects>
<ukm:UnappliedEffect AffectingYear="2009" AffectingNumber="25" AppliedModified="2012-11-15T11:03:09.428Z" AffectingClass="UnitedKingdomPublicGeneralAct" AffectedClass="UnitedKingdomPublicGeneralAct" Type="inserted" EffectId="key-81fb5d1d212eaf50f56476efdf100d04" Row="86" AffectedYear="1999" AffectedURI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23" AffectingURI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2009/25" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/effect/key-81fb5d1d212eaf50f56476efdf100d04" AffectingProvisions="s. 104(1)" AffectedProvisions="s. 33BA 33BB" RequiresApplied="true" AffectingEffectsExtent="S+A+M+E+A+S+A+F+F+E+C+T+E+D" AffectedNumber="23" Modified="2024-04-18T16:10:37Z">
<ukm:AffectedTitle>Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999</ukm:AffectedTitle>
<ukm:AffectedProvisions>
<ukm:Section xmlns:err="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/error" Ref="section-33BA" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23/section/33BA" err:Ref="Section missing in legislation" Missing="true">s. 33BA</ukm:Section>
<ukm:Section xmlns:err="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/error" Ref="section-33BB" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23/section/33BB" err:Ref="Section missing in legislation" Missing="true">33BB</ukm:Section>
</ukm:AffectedProvisions>
<ukm:AffectingTitle>Coroners and Justice Act 2009</ukm:AffectingTitle>
<ukm:AffectingProvisions>
<ukm:Section Ref="section-104-1" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2009/25/section/104/1">s. 104(1)</ukm:Section>
</ukm:AffectingProvisions>
<ukm:Savings>
<ukm:Section Ref="section-180" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2009/25/section/180">s. 180</ukm:Section>
</ukm:Savings>
<ukm:CommencementAuthority>
<ukm:Section Ref="section-182-5" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2009/25/section/182/5">s. 182(5)</ukm:Section>
</ukm:CommencementAuthority>
<ukm:InForceDates>
<ukm:InForce Applied="false" Prospective="true" Qualification=""/>
</ukm:InForceDates>
</ukm:UnappliedEffect>
</ukm:UnappliedEffects>
</ukm:PrimaryMetadata>
<ukm:Notes>
<ukm:Note IdURI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/notes" DocumentURI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/section/53/notes"/>
</ukm:Notes>
<ukm:Alternatives>
<ukm:Alternative Date="2008-03-02" URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/pdfs/ukpga_19990023_en.pdf" Title="Print Version"/>
</ukm:Alternatives>
<ukm:Statistics>
<ukm:TotalParagraphs Value="189"/>
<ukm:BodyParagraphs Value="68"/>
<ukm:ScheduleParagraphs Value="121"/>
<ukm:AttachmentParagraphs Value="0"/>
<ukm:TotalImages Value="0"/>
</ukm:Statistics>
</proprietary>
</meta>
<portionBody period="#period1">
<part eId="part-II" period="#period2">
<num>Part II</num>
<heading> Giving of evidence or information for purposes of criminal proceedings</heading>
<chapter eId="part-II-chapter-V" period="#period3">
<num>Chapter V</num>
<heading> Competence of witnesses and capacity to be sworn</heading>
<hcontainer name="crossheading" eId="part-II-chapter-V-crossheading-competence-of-witnesses" period="#period3">
<heading> Competence of witnesses</heading>
<section eId="section-53" period="#period3">
<num>
<noteRef href="#key-b74aa8662952a5f5cd3f31874886958e" marker="C2" class="commentary C"/>
<noteRef href="#key-9e306368d6a7d659ce4da8f91530d979" marker="C3" class="commentary C"/>
<noteRef href="#key-427d1ab0452081dbff42735f0eccca81" marker="C1" class="commentary C"/>
53
</num>
<heading> Competence of witnesses to give evidence.</heading>
<subsection eId="section-53-1">
<num>1</num>
<content>
<p>At every stage in criminal proceedings all persons are (whatever their age) competent to give evidence.</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-53-2">
<num>2</num>
<content>
<p>Subsection (1) has effect subject to subsections (3) and (4).</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-53-3">
<num>3</num>
<intro>
<p>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—</p>
</intro>
<paragraph eId="section-53-3-a">
<num>a</num>
<content>
<p>understand questions put to him as a witness, and</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
<paragraph eId="section-53-3-b">
<num>b</num>
<content>
<p>give answers to them which can be understood.</p>
</content>
</paragraph>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-53-4">
<num>4</num>
<content>
<p>A person charged in criminal proceedings is not competent to give evidence in the proceedings for the prosecution (whether he is the only person, or is one of two or more persons, charged in the proceedings).</p>
</content>
</subsection>
<subsection eId="section-53-5">
<num>5</num>
<content>
<p>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).</p>
</content>
</subsection>
</section>
</hcontainer>
</chapter>
</part>
</portionBody>
</portion>
</akomaNtoso>