In the context of the law of evidence, the term ‘character’ has three distinct meanings. Sometimes, character is referred to as the reputation in which a person is held in his community, among those by whom he is known. It may refer to the temperament of a person behave in a certain way and lastly, it may also refer to specific incidents in the personal history of the subject, for instance previous convictions for criminal offences. The character of a person may be proved in this method. However, at common law, only the reputation of a person in his community, whether good or bad, was regarded as competent evidence and the opinion of a witness was excluded. According to the modern rules of admissibility assumption has been made that character evidence is relevant in principle. The rules of admissibility avoid the outdated general principles and do not allow the use of bad character only to prove that a person acted in conformity with his previous character. The modern rules prefers the evidence which suggests that the accused is the person who committed the offence charged rather than the evidence which suggests that he is the kind of person who might have committed the offence. Character evidence may be relevant either to some fact in issue in a case or to the credibility of a witness. In a claim for defamation, the character evidence would be a fact in issue. The particulars of claim and defence would determine the extent to which the claimant’s character will be a fact in issue. In criminal law, almost in all cases the character is itself in issue since some aspect of character is an essential element of the offence.
