Section
Assuming the responsibility of bearing witness is a communal obligation in the case of a marriage contract; according to the sounder view the same holds for recording a confession, conducting a financial transaction, and drafting the instrument itself. If a matter depends on only two witnesses, both must give their testimony. Should one testify while the other refuse and say, “Let him swear in my place,” he is sinful. When several witnesses are available, giving testimony is a communal duty; if two of them are singled out and summoned, both are obliged to respond in the sounder opinion. Where only one witness is present, he must testify if the claim may be proved by a single witness together with an oath; otherwise, he is not bound. Another view maintains that the duty to testify is binding only on a person who deliberately undertook it, not on someone who happened upon it by chance.

Three conditions make the performance of testimony obligatory: (1) the plaintiff must summon the witness from within calling distance—another opinion says, from within a distance shorter than that which entitles a traveller to shorten the prayer; (2) the plaintiff must be upright, for if he is unanimously regarded as immoral (or, according to one view, even if his immorality is disputed) the witness need not comply; and (3) the witness himself must not be excused by illness or the like. If he is excused, he may have his testimony formally attested in the presence of others, or the judge may dispatch someone to take it down.

Section
Secondary testimony—testifying about the testimony of others—is accepted in non-penal matters and, according to the school, in penal cases that involve the private rights of human beings. A person assumes such testimony when the primary witness says to him, “I am testifying to such-and-such; I appoint you as my witness,” or “Bear witness to my testimony,” or when he hears the primary witness testifying before a judge, or hears him say, “I testify that So-and-so owes So-and-so one thousand for the price of goods,” and the like; another opinion exists on this point. It is insufficient merely to hear the words, “So-and-so owes So-and-so such-and-such,” or “I testify to such-and-such,” or “I have testimony about such-and-such.”

When the secondary witness gives his testimony, he must specify the manner in which he received it; if he omits that detail but the judge is confident of his knowledge, the testimony is still acceptable. One may not take over testimony from a person whose own testimony is inadmissible, and women do not undertake secondary testimony. The death, absence, or illness of the primary witness does not prevent the secondary witness from testifying, whereas apostasy, open sin, or enmity does; on the correct view, the primary witness’s insanity is treated like his death. If the secondary witness was a flagrant sinner or a slave when he assumed the testimony but testifies after becoming fully qualified, his testimony is received.

The testimony of two persons regarding the two primary witnesses suffices, though another opinion requires two secondary witnesses for each individual—male or female—whose testimony is being transmitted. Acceptance of such testimony is contingent on the primary witness’s unavailability or serious difficulty of appearance due to death, blindness, or an illness that entails hardship.