                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CONTRADICTION BY PRIOR INCONSISTENT WRITING (SUBDIVISION (B)(I) OF SUPREME COURT
RULE 2:613 DERIVED IN PART FROM THIS SECTION AND SUBDIVISION (B)(II) OF SUPREME
COURT RULE 2:613 DERIVED FROM THIS SECTION) (§ 8.01-404)

A witness may be cross-examined as to previous statements made by him in writing
or reduced into writing, relative to the subject matter of the civil action,
without such writing being shown to him; but if it is intended to contradict
such witness by the writing, his attention must, before such contradictory proof
can be given, be called to the particular occasion on which the writing is
supposed to have been made, and he may be asked if he did not make a writing of
the purport of the one to be offered to contradict him, and if he denies making
it, or does not admit its execution, it shall then be shown to him, and if he
admits its genuineness, he shall be allowed to make his own explanation of it;
but it shall be competent for the court at any time during the trial to require
the production of the writing for its inspection, and the court may thereupon
make such use of it for the purpose of the trial as it may think best. This
section is subject to the qualification, that in an action to recover for a
personal injury or death by wrongful act or neglect, no ex parte affidavit or
statement in writing other than a deposition, after due notice, of a witness and
no extrajudicial recording made at any time other than simultaneously with the
wrongful act or negligence at issue of the voice of such witness, or
reproduction or transcript thereof, as to the facts or circumstances attending
the wrongful act or neglect complained of, shall be used to contradict him as a
witness in the case. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the
use of any such ex parte affidavit or statement in an action on an insurance
policy based upon a judgment recovered in a personal injury or death by wrongful
act case.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 8-293; 1958, c. 380; 1960, c. 114; 1964, c. 356; 1977, c.
617; 2007, c. 598.