dying declaration in the law of evidence, an exception to the HEARSAY rule in England whereby the oral or written statement of a dying per- son may be used in evidence at the trial of a person for his murder if he would have been a competent witness himself. To be effective, the maker must have been in hopeless expectation of his death. Its basis is that the person being so near death is unlikely to lie when he is so soon to come before a higher court. In more secular times, the fact that the statement cannot be contradicted should perhaps suggest the weight accorded to it might not be as great as once was the case.

139

E

• poinding of the ground
• police
• Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)
• policy of insurance
• political asylum
• pollicitatio
• polygamous marriage
• position statement
• positive prescription
• positivism
• possession
• postal acceptance rule
• post-dating
• post diem
• post mortem
• power of attorney
• pp
• practising certificate
• praepositura
• preamble
• precario
• precedent
• precognition
• pre-emption
• pre-emption clause