Difference between Oral and Documentary Evidence are as follows:
Documentary evidence means all documents produced for the inspection of the Court. (S. 3)
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
Oral evidence means and includes all statements which the Court requires, or permits, to be made before it, by witnesses in relation to matters of fact under inquiry; documentary evidence means and includes all documents produced for the inspection of the Court.
Oral evidence is a statement of witnesses; documentary evidence is a statement of documents. Documents are denominated as dead proof, as distinguished from witnesses who are said to be living proofs. Documentary evidence is superior to oral evidence in permanence, and in many respects, in trustworthiness. There are more ways of trying the genuineness of documentary evidence than there can be of disproving oral evidence. In many cases, the existence of documentary evidence excludes the production of oral evidence.