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Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73not60

§8900 Evidence Admissible When Witness Is Not Available

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle C— Navy and Marine Corps › Part IV— GENERAL ADMINISTRATION › Chapter 885— STAY OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS › § 8900

Last updated Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

A court can accept written or earlier testimony when, after reasonable effort, the United States or the claimant cannot get a witness and either a stay under this chapter stopped questioning or the United States kept the witness away to protect naval operations. The court may admit a sworn notary affidavit or prior testimony from military proceedings; using that evidence does not make other records admissible or force the United States to produce them.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §8900

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Whenever the court is satisfied by appropriate evidence or by agreement of counsel that the United States or the claimant is unable after reasonable efforts to secure the testimony of a witness and— (1)
(2)the United States establishes that it has refrained from bringing a suit or from taking the testimony of the witness in a pending suit to avoid endangering the security of naval operations or interfering with such operations;
(1)the affidavit of the witness duly sworn to before a notary public or other authorized officer; or
(2)the statement or testimony of the witness before a court-martial, a court of inquiry, or an investigation; but the use of such statement or testimony does not, in any litigation, make the remainder of the record admissible or compel the United States to produce the remainder of the record.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 773046 U.S.C. 795.July 3, 1944, ch. 399, § 5, 58 Stat. 725. The words “naval”, “board of investigation”, and “Coast Guard investigation” are omitted as surplusage.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 7730 of this title as this section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of

Amendments

and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 8900

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60