Chapter: Testimony Concerning Testimony1 and the Manner of Delivering It
Testimony concerning testimony2 is for the witness to say: “Bear witness, O so-and-so, to my testimony: I testify that So-and-so son of So-and-so made me a witness against himself3,” or, “I bore witness against him,” or, “He acknowledged before me such-and-such.”
It is valid for one man and two women to bear witness to the testimony of two men, for one man and two women to bear witness to testimony given by the same composition, and for a single woman to bear witness to another woman in matters where a woman’s testimony is admissible.
Its conditions are four:
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That it pertain to the rights of human beings.
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That the original witnesses be unable to appear because of death, illness4, or travel beyond the distance that allows shortening the prayer, and that their inability continue until the ruling is issued; whenever the original witnesses can be heard, the judgment is postponed until their testimony is taken.
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The continuous uprightness of both the original and the secondary witnesses until judgment is rendered; if any disqualifying matter5 arises concerning any of them before that, proceedings are halted.
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Verification of the uprightness of all the witnesses; it is permissible for a secondary witness to attest to the integrity of an original witness, but not