the.com/hearsay
Testimony that overheard the truth but never actually met it.
means Secondhand information offered as fact, repeated from someone who isn't there to be questioned.
from A blunt fifteenth-century mashup of hear and say — literally what you heard someone say, no further vetting included.
Courtroom enemyGenerally inadmissible because nobody can cross-examine a rumor.
Exceptions existDying declarations and confessions can slip through.
Self-aware phraseAdmits its own unreliability right in the name.