Compellable Witness in United Kingdom

Definition of Compellable Witness

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Compellable Witness : A person who may lawfully be required to give evidence. In principle every person who is competent to be a witness is compellable (See competence). In criminal prosecutions the spouse of the accused is generally competent and, under the 1999 amendments to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, may in some circumstances be compellable; for example, when the offence charged is an assault upon the spouse or someone under the age of 16, the spouse is compellable as well as competent.