§ 9-11-43.Evidence

Subsection (a) states the default for trial testimony: witnesses testify orally, in open court, unless some other provision of the chapter or another statute says otherwise. That default keeps live testimony, subject to cross-examination in front of the fact-finder, as the ordinary way evidence comes in at trial.

Subsection (b) loosens things up for motions. When a motion turns on facts outside the existing record, the court can decide it on affidavits the parties submit, or instead direct that the matter be heard wholly or partly through oral testimony or depositions. Either way, the subsection preserves a party’s separate right to use depositions whenever that right would otherwise apply.

Subsection (c) handles a different problem: proving what the law of another state or a foreign country says. A party who wants to raise such an issue has to give notice, either in the pleadings or through other reasonable written notice. Once raised, the court can look at any relevant material or source — including testimony — whether or not a party submitted it or it would ordinarily be admissible, and the court’s conclusion is treated as a ruling on a question of law rather than a factual finding for the jury.