Testimony

[1][2] In the law, testimony is a form of evidence in which a witness makes a "solemn declaration or affirmation ... for the purpose of establishing or proving some fact".

Historically, to be admissible in court and to ensure maximum reliability and validity, written testimony presented in the form of an affidavit (i.e., the witness would not be appearing in court at the hearing at which the affidavit was considered as evidence) was usually witnessed by another person (in many common law jurisdictions, a notary public) who had to also swear to or affirm its authenticity, also under penalty of perjury.

In 1976, the United States Congress enacted a statute allowing for the use of an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury in lieu of an affidavit in federal courts.

Legitimate expert witnesses with a genuine understanding of legal process and the inherent dangers of false or misleading testimony refrain from making statements of fact.

They should make no firm judgement or claim or accusation about any aspect of the case outside their narrow range of expertise.

A wide range of factors make it physically impossible to prove for certain that two hair or tissue samples came from a common source.

If an attorney failed to "take an exception" immediately after the court's ruling on the objection, he waived his client's right to appeal the issue.

Commonly it may refer to a specific event in a Christian's life in which God did something deemed particularly worth sharing.

[9] After the early church began to preach about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter and the other apostles asserted that "we are witnesses of these things".

In some religions (most notably Mormonism and Islam) many adherents testify as a profession of their faith, often to a congregation of believers.

[14][15] Some published oral or written autobiographical narratives are considered "testimonial literature" particularly when they present evidence or first person accounts of human rights abuses, violence and war, and living under conditions of social oppression.

The biographies of marginalized women such as Jesusita Aragon and Maria Elena Lucas, made from recordings and transcriptions by oral historian Fran Leeper Buss, are more recent examples.