Law_of_Evidence_in_Kenya

Section 50 (1) of the Evidence Act provides that when the court has to form an opinion as to the
person by whom any document was written or signed, the opinion of any person acquainted with
the handwriting of the person by whom it is supposed to be written or signed that it was or was
not written or signed by that person, is admissible.
A person is said to be acquainted with the hand-writing of another person when he has seen that
person write, or when he has received documents purporting to be written by that person in
answer to documents written by himself or under his authority and addressed to that person, or
when in the ordinary course of business documents purporting to be written by that person have
been habitually submitted to him.
In Doe d Mudd v Suckermore 84 Coleridge J on how to prove handwritings said: either witness
has seen the party on some other occasion or he has corresponded with him and transactions
have taken place between them, upon the faith that letters purporting to have been written or
signed have been so written or signed.
Section 51 states that opinions as to the existence of any general custom or rights, that is custom
or right common to any considerable class of persons, given by persons who would be likely to
know of such customs or rights are admissible.
Section 52 provides that opinions of persons having special means of knowledge are admissible
as to the usages and tenets of anybody of men or family, the constitution and government of any
religious or charitable foundation.
Section 53 provides that when a court has to form an opinion as to the relationship of one person
to another, the opinion expressed by the conduct as to the existence of such relationships of any
person who as a member of the family or otherwise has special means of knowledge on the
subject is admissible.
IDENTIFICATION EVIDENCE
Usually it‟s often the expression of an opinion that a person seen at one time (at the scene of
crime) is the same person as was seen at some other time (in court, identification parade).
84 (1837)