Offence to give Evidence tending to eriminate Law of Evidence Amendment. son charged summary Conviction, competent or Compellable to give Eviwith criminal dence for or against himself or herself, or shall render any Person compellable to answer any Question tending to criminate himself or herself, or shall in any criminal Proceeding render any Husband competent or compellable to give Evidence for or against his Wife, or any Wife competent or compellable to give Evidence for or against her Husband. himself, &c. Not to apply to Proceed IV. Nothing herein contained shall apply to any Action, ings in con- Suit, Proceeding, or Bill in any Court of Common Law, or in any Ecclesiastical Court, or in either House of Parliament, instituted in consequence of Adultery, or to any Action for Breach of Promise of Marriage. sequence of Adultery, &c. Nothing to repeal any Provisions of 7 W. 4, & 1 Viet. c. 26. Common Law Courts authorized to compel Documents whenever Equity would grant Dis covery. V. Nothing herein contained shall repeal any Provision contained in Chapter Twenty-six of the Statute passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the Seventh Year of the Reign of King William the Fourth and the First Year of the Reign of Her Present Majesty. VI. Whenever any Action or other legal Proceeding shall henceforth be pending in any of the Superior Courts of Common Law at Westminster or Dublin, or the Court of Common Inspection of Pleas for the County Palatine of Lancaster, or the Court of Pleas for the County of Durham, such Court and each of the Judges thereof may respectively, on Application made for such Purpose by either of the Litigants, compel the opposite Party to allow the Party making the Application to inspect all Documents in the Custody or under the Control of such opposite Party relating to such Action or other legal Proceeding, and, if necessary, to take examined Copies of the same, or to procure the same to be duly stamped, in all Cases in which previous to the passing of this Act a Discovery might have been obtained by filing a Bill or by any other Procceding in a Court of Equity at the Instance of the Party so making Application as aforesaid to the said Court or Judge. Foreign and Colonial Acts of State, Judgments, &c. provable by certified Copies, with out Proof of Seal or Sig VII. All Proclamations, Treaties, and other Acts of State of any Foreign State or of any British Colony, and all Judgments, Decrees, Orders, and other judicial Proceedings of any Court of Justice in any Foreign State or in any British Colony, and all Affidavits, Pleadings and other legal Documents filed or deposited in any such Court, may be proved in any Court of Justice, or before any person having by law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, either by examined copies or by Copies authenticated as herePerson sign in-after mentioned; that is to say, if the Document sought to ing the same. be proved be a Proclamation, Treaty, or other Act of State, the authenticated Copy to be admissible in Evidence must purport nature or judicial Cha Jacter of to Law of Evidence Amendment. to be sealed with the Seal of the Foreign State or British Colony to which the original Document belongs; and if the Document sought to be proved be a Judgment, Decree, Order, or other judicial Proceeding of any Foreign or Colonial Court, or an Affidavit, Pleading, or other legal Document filed or deposited in any such Court, the authenticated Copy to be admissible in Evidence must purport either to be sealed with the Seal of the Foreign or Colonial Court to which the original Document belongs, or, in the event of such Court having no Seal, to be signed by the Judge, or, if there be more than One Judge, by any One of the Judges of the said Court, and such Judge shall attach to his Signature a Statement in Writing on the said Copy that the Court whereof he is a Judge has no Seal; but if any of the aforesaid authenticated Copies shall purport to be sealed or signed as herein before respectively directed, the same shall respectively be admitted in Evidence in every Case, in which the original Document could have been received in Evidence, without any Proof of the Seal where a Seal is necessary, or of the Signature, or of the Truth of the Statement attached thereto, where such Signature and Statement are necessary, or of the judicial Character of the Person appearing to have made such Signature and Statement. Proof of VIII. Every Certificate of the Qualification of an Apothecary Apothecaries' which shall purport to be under the Common Seal of the Society Certificates of the Art and Mystery of Apothecaries of the City of London admissible shall be received in Evidence in any Court of Justice, and without before any Person having by Law or by Consent of Parties Seal. Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, without any Proof of the said Seal or of the Authenticity of the said Certificate, and shall be deemed sufficient Proof that the Person named therein has been from the Date of the said Certificate duly qualified to practise as an Apothecary in any Part of England or Wales. without IX. Every Document which by any Law now in force or Documents hereafter to be in force is or shall be admissible in Evidence of admissible any Particular in any Court of Justice in England or Wales Proof of without Proof of the Seal or Stamp or Signature authenticating Seal, &c. the same, or of the judicial or official Character of the Person in England or Wales appearing to have signed the same, shall be admitted in Evi- equally addence to the same Extent and for the same Purposes in any missible in Court of Justice in Ireland, or before any Person having in Ireland. Ireland by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, without Proof of the Seal or Stamp or Signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed the same. Documents Proof of Documents admis ible without Proof of Seal, &c. in England, Wales, or Ireland equally admissible in the Colo nies. Registers of tificates of Registry admissible as primâ facie Evidence of their Contents, without Proof of Signature, &c. Law of Evidence Amendment. X. Every Document which by any Law now in force or hereafter to be in force is or shall be admissible in Evidence of any Particular in any Court of Justice in Ireland without Proof of the Seal or Stamp or Signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed the same, shall be admitted in Evidence to the same Extent and for the same Purposes in any Court of Justice in England or Wales, or before any Person having in England or Wales by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to har, receive, and examine Evidence, without Proof of the Seal or Stamp or Signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed the same. XI. Every Document which by any Law now in force or hereafter to be in force is or shall be admissible ir Evidence of any Particular in any Court of Justice in England or Wales or Ireland without Proof of the Seal or Stamp or Signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed the same, shall be admitted in Evidence to the same Extent and for the same Purposes in any Court of Justice of any of the British Colonies, or before any person having in any of such Colonies by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, without Proof of the Seal or Stamp or Signature authenticating the same, or of the judicial or official Character of the Person appearing to have signed the same. XII. Every Register of a Vessel kept under any of the Acts sels and Cer- relating to the Registry of British Vessels may be proved in any Court of Justice, or before any Person having by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, either by the Production of the Original or by an examined Copy thereof, or by a Copy thereof purporting to be certified under the Hand of the Person having the charge of the Original, and which Person is hereby required to furnish such certified Copy to any Person applying at a reasonable Time for the same, upon Payment of the Sum of One Shilling; and every such Register or such Copy of a Register, and also every Certificate of Registry, granted under any of the Acts relating to the Registry of British Vessels, and purporting to be signed as required by Law, shall be received in Evidence in any Court of Justice, or before any Person having by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, as prima facie Proof of all the matters contained or recited in such Register when the Register or such Copy thereof as aforesaid is produced, and of all the Matters contained or recited in or endorsed on such Certificate of Registry when the said Certificate is produced. Law of Evidence Amendment. viction or necessary to XIII. And whereas it is expedient, as far as possible, to Where reduce the Expense attendant upon the Proof of criminal Pro- necessary to ceedings: Be it enacted, That whenever in any Proceeding prove Conwhatever it may be necessary to prove the Trial and Conviction Acquittal of or Acquittal of any Person charged with any indictable Offence, Person charged, not it shall not be necessary to produce the Record of the Conviction or Acquittal of such Person, or a Copy thereof, but it shall produce be sufficient that it be certified or purport to be certified under kecoid, but the Hand of the Clerk of the Court or other Officer having the may be der Custody of the Records of the Court where such Conviction or Hand of Acquittal took place, or by the Deputy of such Clerk or other Clerk of Officer, that the Paper produced is a Copy of the Record of the Indictment, Trial, Conviction, and Judgment or Acquittal, as the Case may be, omitting the formal Parts thereof. tified Court. Documents XIV. Whenever any Book or other Document is of such a Examined Public Nature as to be admissible in Evidence on its mere or certified Production from the proper Custody, and no Statute exists Copies of which renders its Contents provable by means of a Copy, any admissible Copy thereof or Extract therefrom shall be admissible in Evi- in Evidence. dence in any Court of Justice, or before any Person now or hereafter having by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, provided it be proved to be an examined Copy or Extract, or provided it purport to be signed and certified as a true Copy or Extract by the Officer to whose Custody the Original is entrusted, and which Officer is hereby required to furnish such certified Copy or Extract to any Person applying at a reasonable Time for the same, upon Payment of a reasonable Sum for the same, not exceeding Fourpence for every Folio of Ninety Words. ment a Mis XV. If any Officer authorized or required by this Act to furnish Certifying a any certified Copies or Extracts shall wilfully certify any Docu- false Document as being a true Copy or Extract, knowing that the same demeanor. is not a true Copy or Extract, as the case may be, he shall be guilty of a Misdemeanor, and be liable, upon Conviction, to imprisonment for any Term not exceeding Eighteen Months. XVI. Every Court, Judge, Justice, Officer, Commissioner, Court, &c. Arbitrator, or other Person, now or hereafter having by Law or may admi by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine nister Oaths. Evidence, is hereby empowered to administer an Oath to all such Witnesses as are legally called before them respectively. XVII. If any Person shall forge the Seal, Stamp, or Signature Persons of any Document in this Act mentioned or referred to, or shall forging Seal, tender in Evidence any such Document with a false or counter- Stamp, or feit Seal, Stamp, or Signature thereto, knowing the same to be of certain Signature false or counterfeit, he shall be guilty of Felony, and shall upon Documents, Conviction or wilfully uttering same, guilty of Felony. Acino to extend to Scotland. Interpreta Law of Evidence Amendment. Conviction be liable to Transportation for Seven Years, or to Imprisonment for any Term not exceeding Three Years nor less than One Year, with Hard Labour; and whenever any such Document shall have been Admitted in Evidence by virtue of this Act, the Court or the Person who shall have admitted the same may, at the Request of any Party against whom the same is so admitted in Evidence, direct that the same shall be impounded and be kept in the Custody of some Officer of the Court or other proper Person for such Period and subject to such Conditions as to the said Court or Person shall seem meet; and every Person who shall be charged with committing any Felony under this Act, or under the Act of the Eighth and Ninth Years of Her present Majesty, Chapter One hundred and thirteen, may be dealt with, indicted, tried, and, if convicted, sentenced, and his Offence may be laid and charged to have been committed in the County, District, or Place in which he shall be apprehended or be in Custody; and every Accessory before or after the Fact to any such Offence may be dealt with, indicted, tried, and, if convicted, sentenced, and his Offence laid and charged to have been committed, in any County, District, or Place in which the Principal Offender may be tried. XVIII. This Act shall not extend to Scotland. XIX. The Words" British Colony," as used in this Act, tion of Bri- shall apply to the British Territories under the Government of tish Colony." the East India Company, and to the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Man, and to all other Possessions of the British Crown, wheresoever and whatsoever. Commence XX. This Act shall come into operation on the First Day of ment of Act. November in the present Year. QUEBEC -Printed by S. DErbishire & G. DESBARATS, Law Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. |