Terms Used In California Codes > Evidence Code > Division 10 > Chapter 2 > Article 15 - Declarant Unavailable as Witness

• Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• City: includes "city and county" and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Government Code 20
• Commission: means the California Transportation Commission. See California Government Code 14501
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Declarant: is a person who makes a statement. See California Evidence Code 135
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Evidence: means testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact. See California Evidence Code 140
• hearing: means the hearing at which a question under this code arises, and not some earlier or later hearing. See California Evidence Code 145
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Law: includes constitutional, statutory, and decisional law. See California Evidence Code 160
• Person: includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity. See California Evidence Code 175
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Statement: means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression. See California Evidence Code 225
• subscription: includes mark when the signer or subscriber can not write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name. See California Government Code 16
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• unavailable as a witness: means that the declarant is any of the following:

  California Evidence Code 240

• Will: includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will. See California Probate Code 88