Competency

evidence, is the legal ability of a witness to be heard on the trial of a cause. This term is also applied to written or other account books, and the like. Prima facie every person offered is a competent witness, and must be received unless his incompetency (q. v-) appears. 9 State Tr. 652. ‘There is a difference between competency and credibility. A witness may be competent, and, on examination, his story may be so contradictory and improbable that he may not be believed; on the contrary he may be incompetent, for example, on account of interest, and be perfectly credible if he were examined. The court are the sole judges of the competency of a witness, and may, for the purpose of deciding whether the witness is or is not competent, ascertain all the facts necessary to form a judgment.