Credibility Law and Legal Definition
Credibility is the quality, capability, or power to elicit belief or a capacity for belief. It may also refer to someone's reputation for truthfulness. For example, the credibility of a witness may be attacked through questions asked of the witness. Credible means something that is believable or capable of being believed; believable. For example, credible evidence refers to evidence that is worthy of belief or trustworthy.
Credibility of testimony refers to the reliability of testimony, based on competence of the witness and likelihood that it is true. Credibility of testimony is usually supported by other substantiating evidence, but credibility is often a subjective determination to be made by the trier of fact (judge or jury). In general, the rules of evidence disallow character witnesses to be called to testify to a witness' reputation for truthfulness or untruthfulness unless such reputation for truthfulfulness or untruthfulness has already been attacked.
