Coimpetency

Qualification to act; capacity. In the Law of Evidence. The legal fitness or ability of a witness to be heard on the trial of a cause; that qualitjr of written or other evidence which renders it proper to be given on the trial of a cause, if it be 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, and yet be perfectly credible if he were examined. in French Law. The right in a court to exercise jurisdiction in a particular case, as where the law gives jurisdiction to the court when a thousand francs shall be in dispute, the court is competent if the sum demanded is a thousand francs or upwards, although the plaintiff may ultimately recover less.