Vidhara

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872

§159Refreshing memory

– A witness may, while under examination, refresh his memory by referring to any writing made by himself at the time of the transaction concerning which he is questioned, or so soon afterwards that the Court considers it likely that the transaction was at that time fresh in his memory. The witness may also refer to any such writing made by any other person, and read by the witness within the time aforesaid, if when he read it he knew it to be correct. When witness may use copy of document to refresh memory. –– Whenever a witness may refresh his memory by reference to any document, he may, with the permission of the Court, refer to a copy of such document: Provided the Court be satisfied that there is sufficient reason for the non-production of the original. An expert may refresh his memory by reference to professional treatises.

Old law ⇄ new law

Share:WhatsAppTelegram

Source & version

Official text: India Code (official)

Official India Code text: The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of 1872), English PDF (iea_1872.pdf) retrieved via Internet Archive Wayback Machine snapshot 2021-09-03 of indiacode.nic.in (portal unreachable from ingest network). Extracted via pdftotext 26.07 -bbox and @nexlex/ingest inline parser on 2026-07-15. Repealed by BSA 2023 w.e.f. 2024-07-01. Automated parse; footnotes/amendment history excluded; spot-verified; full clause-level proofread pending. Section 114B, inserted by Chhattisgarh Act 25 of 2015 and published as central law, was removed on 2026-08-02 and is now recorded as a State amendment (D-052/D-053).

How we verify this text →

Spotted a mistake in this text or its mapping? Report an issue with IEA §159

Was this page useful for your prep?

Feedback