Hearsay in the United States

Hearsay is the legal term for certain statements—offered as evidence during a trial or hearing for the purpose of attempting to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statements—that were not made while testifying at the trial or hearing itself. In general, the witness will attempt to make a statement such as, "Sally told me Tom was in town" (for the purpose of proving that Tom was indeed "in town"), as opposed to "I saw Tom in town." Hearsay is not allowed as evidence in the United States, unless one of nearly thirty exceptions applies to the particular statement being made.

The hearsay rule is an analytic rule of evidence that defines hearsay and provides for both exceptions and exemptions from that rule. There is no all-encompassing definition of hearsay in the United States. However, most evidentiary codes defining hearsay adopt verbatim the rule as laid out in the Federal Rules of Evidence, which generally defines hearsay as an out-of-court statement introduced to prove the truth of the matter asserted. "Out-of-court" is shorthand for any statement other than one made under oath and in front of the factfinder (the jury, or the judge in a bench trial) during the same proceeding in which it is being offered in evidence. "Matter asserted" means the matter asserted in the statement offered into evidence, not the matter "asserted" by the party offering the evidence. Evidence typically is introduced to support not just one proposition but a series of propositions, linked together in an inferential chain. If any one of the propositions in the inferential chain is "the truth of the matter asserted" in the out-of-court statement, the evidence falls within the traditional definition of hearsay. The declarant is the person that makes the out-of-court statement — not the person bringing the action (lawsuit).

Note: In hearsay law, "witness" means someone who testifies under oath, from the witness stand and "declarant" refers to someone who makes a statement of any kind, whether or not under oath, and whether in or out of court (according to the Federal Rules of Evidence).

In everyday law, "witness" means someone who sees or observes something and "declarant" means someone who says something under oath. The distinctions in the definitions of these words is important to consider in hearsay law.

F.R.E. 801: Hearsay is a statement that the declarant does not make while testifying at the current trial or hearing; and a party offers that statement in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statement. (F.R.E. refers to the Federal Rules of Evidence)

Historically, the rule against hearsay was aimed at prohibiting the use of another person's statement, as equivalent to testimony by the witness to the fact. Unless the second person is brought to testify in court where they may be placed under oath and cross-examined, the factfinder cannot gauge the witness' credibility.

...
Wikipedia