dying declaration As an exception to the rule that hearsay is not admissible, the oral or written declaration of a dying person may by admissible evidence of the cause of his death in a trial for his manslaughter or murder if he would have been a competent witness had he lived, and if he had been in settled hopeless expectation of death at the time of making the declaration. The principle on which this species of evidence is admitted is, that they are declarations made in extremity, when the party is at the point of death, and when every hope of this world is gone; when every motive to falsehood is silenced, and the mind is induced by the most powerful considerations to speak the truth: a situation so solemn and so awful is considered by law as creating an obligation equal to that which is imposed by a positive oath administered in a court of justice .
See Also: Translator EN-BM