(ש"ע) יכולת; סמכות

n. ability, capability; adequacy; adequate salary; qualification (Law)

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Noun
1. the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically and intellectually
(synonym) competence
(hypernym) ability
(hyponym) fitness

(n.)
The state of being competent; fitness; ability; adequacy; power.
  

(n.)
Right or authority; legal power or capacity to take cognizance of a cause; as, the competence of a judge or court.
  

(n.)
Property or means sufficient for the necessaries and conveniences of life; sufficiency without excess.
  

(n.)
Legal capacity or qualifications; fitness; as, the competency of a witness or of a evidence.
  

The mental ability to understand the general effect of a transaction or document.

The legal fitness or ability of a witness to be heard on the trial of a cause. This term is also applied to written or other evidence which may be legally given on such trial as depositions, letters, account-books and the like.

Prima facie every person offered is a competent witness and must be received, unless his incompetency appears.

There is a difference between competency and credibility. A witness may be competent and on examination his story may be so contradictory and improbable that he may not be believed; on the contrary he may be incompetent and yet be perfectly credible if he were examined.

The court are the sole judges of the competency of a witness, and may, for the purpose of deciding whether the witness is or is not competent, ascertain all the facts necessary to form a judgment.

In the French law, by competency is understood the right in a court to exercise jurisdiction in a particular case; as where the law gives jurisdiction to the court when a thousand francs shall be in dispute, the court is competent if the sum demanded is a thousand francs or upwards although the plaintiff may ultimately recover less.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.