§ SECTION 4 · BSA 2023 · CHAPTER II — RELEVANCY OF FACTS

Relevancy of facts forming part of same transaction

The catalogue’s first route — the classical res gestae rule: facts welded into the same transaction as a fact in issue come in with it, whatever their time or place.

How to read Section 4

The first entry in the relevancy catalogue — one test, one warning.

What it is about

Facts that are not in issue still come in if they form part of the same transaction as a fact in issue — the rule lawyers call res gestae.

The test

Connection so tight the fact is part of one continuous story — not mere background, not a separate earlier chapter.

Time & place don’t decide

The section says it expressly: same time and place or different — a transaction can spread over days and districts.

The bare Act

The section in its own words — colour-keyed by what each phrase does.

Section 4 · verbatim

Facts which, though not in issue, are so connected with a fact in issue or a relevant fact as to form part of the same transaction, are relevant, whether they occurred at the same time and place or at different times and places.

Illustrations

(a) A is accused of the murder of B by beating him. Whatever was said or done by A or B or the bystanders at the beating, or so shortly before or after it as to form part of the transaction, is a relevant fact.

(b) A is accused of waging war against the Government of India by taking part in an armed insurrection in which property is destroyed, troops are attacked and jails are broken open. The occurrence of these facts is relevant, as forming part of the general transaction, though A may not have been present at all of them.

(c) A sues B for a libel contained in a letter forming part of a correspondence. Letters between the parties relating to the subject out of which the libel arose, and forming part of the correspondence in which it is contained, are relevant facts, though they do not contain the libel itself.

(d) The question is, whether certain goods ordered from B were delivered to A. The goods were delivered to several intermediate persons successively. Each delivery is a relevant fact.

In short: a fact outside the pleadings still enters if it is welded into the same transaction as a fact in issue or a relevant fact — the surrounding words and acts, the connected episodes of one general event, the rest of the same correspondence, every link in one chain of deliveries. Time and place are expressly declared no bar.

→ The court receives the whole story, not an amputated slice of it — that is the logic of res gestae.

Glossary

transaction

One continuous happening — a group of facts so connected as to form a single story with a beginning, middle and end.

res gestae

The classical Latin name for this rule — “things done”, the events that make up the transaction itself.

fact in issue

The facts the case turns on — § 2(g).

relevant fact

A fact connected in a way this Act recognises — § 2(k); this section is the first of those ways.

bystanders

People present at the event — their spontaneous words at the scene are part of the transaction.

The picture

One umbrella — what is under it comes in; what is outside stays out.

The section, part by part

Tap a part — the picture-story tells it first; the word-by-word text and example follow.

The ruleThe Illustrations

the ruleOne transaction — one story

In one lineFacts welded to the main event — part of the same transaction — come in, even if they happened at other times and places.

Facts which, though not in issue,the outsidersfacts that are not themselves what the case turns on…

are so connected with a fact in issue or a relevant factthe connection…but are tied to a fact that is in issue (or already relevant)…

as to form part of the same transaction,one story…so tightly that they belong to the same single happening — one continuous story. Lawyers call this res gestae.

are relevant,the resultthey walk in through the § 3 gate.

whether they occurred at the same time and place or at different times and places.time & place no bara transaction can stretch over hours, days and different places — the weld matters, not the clock or the map.

ExampleA road-rage assault: a bystander’s cry “he has taken out a knife!” seconds before the blow, and the attacker’s words while striking — all part of the same transaction, all relevant, though none of them is itself a fact in issue.

✗ Not this“Related” is not enough. A quarrel between the parties two months earlier is background or motive — that travels under a different section, not as part of the same transaction. The weld must be to the event itself.

IllustrationsThe four pictures the Act itself gives

In one lineWords at the beating · a spread-out insurrection · a chain of letters · a chain of deliveries — four shapes of “one transaction”.

(a) the beatingwords as actswhatever A, B or bystanders said or did at the beating — or just before or after — is inside the transaction:

(b) the insurrectionone big eventproperty destroyed, troops attacked, jails broken — one general transaction, relevant against A even where he was absent:

(c) the correspondencethe whole threadin a libel suit, the other letters of the same correspondence are relevant though the libel is not in them:

(d) the deliveriesevery linkgoods passed hand to hand — each successive delivery is a relevant fact:

Shortly before — A sharpens a stake as B approaches · tap outside or × to close

At the beating — A strikes B with the club · tap outside or × to close

Shortly after — bystanders cry out “he just beat him!” and A flees; their words are part of the transaction · tap outside or × to close

Illustration (a) — one transaction: what A, B and the bystanders said or did just before, at, and just after the beating is all relevant. (tap a scene to zoom)

The insurrection begins — A leads the armed crowd (A is present) · tap outside or × to close

Public property destroyed — A is NOT present here, yet it is part of the same transaction · tap outside or × to close

The district jail is broken open — prisoners escape (A need not be present) · tap outside or × to close

Illustration (b) — one general transaction of waging war: property destroyed, offices burned, the jail broken open — all relevant against A, though he was not present at every scene. (tap a scene to zoom)

Illustration (c) — three letters of one correspondence; only Letter 2 carries the libel, yet all are relevant · tap outside or × to close

Illustration (c) — the libel sits in Letter 2, but Letters 1 and 3 are part of the same correspondence on the same subject, so they too are relevant. (tap to zoom)

Illustration (d) — goods pass B → Courier 1 → 2 → 3 → A; each hand-over is a relevant fact · tap outside or × to close

Illustration (d) — goods ordered by A from B pass through successive couriers; each delivery in the chain is a relevant fact on whether they reached A. (tap to zoom)

ExampleNotice the pattern across all four: the law refuses to tear one story into pieces — the surrounding words, the connected episodes, the rest of the thread, every link of the chain, all come in together.

Connected provisions

§ 3

The gate

§ 4 is the first “way” § 3 promised — the opening entry of the relevancy catalogue.

§ 2(g), (k)

Definitions

“Fact in issue” and “relevant” — the vocabulary this section runs on.

§ 5 · next

Occasion, cause & effect

The next route in: facts that are the occasion, cause or effect of facts in issue.

lineage

IEA 1872, § 6

This provision carries forward the res gestae rule of section 6 of the repealed Evidence Act.