Every person is competent to be a witness, except as otherwise provided by statute.
This statute establishes the modern, fundamental principle of witness competency. It creates a broad presumption that every person is competent to testify. This is a departure from older common law rules that automatically disqualified entire classes of people. The phrase "except as otherwise provided by statute" is the key; it means that while competency is the default, other specific statutes (such as § 90.603) can create specific grounds for disqualification.
