In an action by or against a person who, from any cause, is incapable of testifying, or by or against the committee, trustee, executor, administrator, heir, or other representative of the person so incapable of testifying, no judgment or decree shall be rendered in favor of an adverse or interested party founded on his uncorroborated testimony. In any such action, whether such adverse party testifies or not, all entries, memoranda, and declarations by the party so incapable of testifying made while he was capable, relevant to the matter in issue, may be received as evidence in all proceedings including without limitation those to which a person under a disability is a party. The phrase "from any cause" as used in this section shall not include situations in which the party who is incapable of testifying has rendered himself unable to testify by an intentional self-inflicted injury.
For the purposes of this section, and in addition to corroboration by any other competent evidence, an entry authored by an adverse or interested party contained in a business record may be competent evidence for corroboration of the testimony of an adverse or interested party. If authentication of the business record is not admitted in a request for admission, such business record shall be authenticated by a person other than the author of the entry who is not an adverse or interested party whose conduct is at issue in the allegations of the complaint.
Code 1950, § 8-286; 1977, c. 617; 1988, c. 426; 2013, cc. 61, 637.
Structure Code of Virginia
Title 8.01 - Civil Remedies and Procedure
§ 8.01-386. Judicial notice of laws (Supreme Court Rule 2:202 derived in part from this section)
§ 8.01-387. Notice by courts and officers of signatures of judges and Governor
§ 8.01-390.1. School records as evidence
§ 8.01-390.2. Reports by Chief Medical Examiner received as evidence
§ 8.01-392. When court order book or equivalent is lost or illegible, what matters may be reentered
§ 8.01-394. How contents of any such lost record, etc., proved
§ 8.01-395. Validating certain proceedings under § 8.01-394
§ 8.01-396. No person incompetent to testify by reason of interest, or because a party
§ 8.01-396.1. Competency of witness
§ 8.01-401.2. Chiropractor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant as expert witness
§ 8.01-401.2:1. Podiatrist as an expert witness
§ 8.01-405. Who may administer oath to witness
§ 8.01-407.1. Identity of persons communicating anonymously over the Internet
§ 8.01-408. Recognizance taken upon continuance of case
§ 8.01-410. Inmates as witnesses in civil actions
§ 8.01-412.2. Authorization of audio-visual deposition; official record; uses
§ 8.01-412.3. Notice of audio-visual deposition
§ 8.01-412.6. Promulgation of rules for standards and guidelines
§ 8.01-412.10. Issuance of subpoena
§ 8.01-412.11. Service of subpoena
§ 8.01-412.12. Deposition, production, and inspection
§ 8.01-412.13. Application to court
§ 8.01-412.14. Uniformity of application and construction; reciprocal privileges
§ 8.01-412.15. Application to pending actions
§ 8.01-413.01. Authenticity and reasonableness of medical bills; presumption
§ 8.01-414. Affidavit prima facie evidence of nonresidence
§ 8.01-415. Affidavit evidence of publication
§ 8.01-416. Affidavit re damages to motor vehicle
§ 8.01-418.2. Evidence of polygraph examination inadmissible in any proceeding
§ 8.01-419. Table of life expectancy
§ 8.01-419.1. Motor vehicle value
§ 8.01-420. Depositions as basis for motion for summary judgment or to strike evidence
§ 8.01-420.1. Abolition of common-law perpetuation of testimony
§ 8.01-420.2. Limitation on use of recorded conversations as evidence
§ 8.01-420.4. Taking of depositions
§ 8.01-420.4:1. Taking of depositions; corporate officers
§ 8.01-420.5. Estoppel effect of judicial determination of employment status
§ 8.01-420.6. Number of witnesses whose depositions may be taken
§ 8.01-420.7. Attorney-client privilege and work product protection; limitations on waiver
§ 8.01-420.8. Protection of confidential information in court files