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EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the law of evidence.{1}
[4th July 1939]
Admissibility of documentary evidence as to facts in issue.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 1

1.(1) In any civil proceedings where direct oral evidence of a fact
would be admissible, any statement made by a person in a document
and tending to establish that fact shall, on production of the
original document, be admissible as evidence of that fact if the
following conditions are satisfied, that is to say:

(a)if the maker of the statement... has personal knowledge of the
matters dealt with by the statement;...; and

(b)if the maker of the statement is called as a witness in the
proceedings:

Provided that the condition that the maker of the statement shall
be called as a witness need not be satisfied if he is dead, or
unfit by reason of his bodily or mental condition to attend as a
witness, or if he is beyond the seas and it is not reasonably
practicable to secure his attendance, or if all reasonable efforts
to find him have been made without success.

(2) In any civil proceedings, the court may at any stage of the
proceedings, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case
it is satisfied that undue delay or expense would otherwise be
caused, order that such a statement as is mentioned in sub-section
(1) of this section shall be admissible as evidence, or may,
without any such order having been made, admit such a statement in
evidence

(a)notwithstanding that the maker of the statement is available but
is not called as a witness;

(b)notwithstanding that the original document is not produced, if in
lieu thereof there is produced a copy of the original document or
of the material part thereof, certified to be a true copy in such
manner as may be specified in the order or as the court may
approve, as the case may be.

(3) Nothing in this section shall render admissible as evidence any
statement made by a person interested at a time when proceedings
were pending or anticipated involving a dispute as to any fact
which the statement might tend to establish.

(4) For the purposes of this section, a statement in a document
shall not be deemed to have been made by a person unless the
document or the material part thereof was written, made or produced
by him with his own hand, or was signed or initialled by him or
otherwise recognised by him in writing as one for the accuracy of
which he is responsible.

(5) For the purpose of deciding whether or not a statement is
admissible as evidence by virtue of the foregoing provisions, the
court may draw any reasonable inference from the form or contents
of the document in which the statement is contained, or from any
other circumstances, and may, in deciding whether or not a person
is fit to attend as a witness, act on a certificate purporting to
be the certificate of a registered medical practitioner, and where
the proceedings are with a jury, the court may in its discretion
reject the statement notwithstanding that the requirements of this
section are satisfied with respect thereto, if for any reason it
appears to it to be inexpedient in the interests of justice that
the statement should be admitted.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 2
Weight to be attached to evidence.

2.(1) In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to a
statement rendered admissible as evidence by this Act, regard shall
be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can
reasonably be drawn as to the accuracy or otherwise of the
statement, and in particular to the question whether or not the
statement was made contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence
of the facts stated, and to the question whether or not the maker
of the statement had any incentive to conceal or misrepresent facts.

(2) For the purpose of any rule of law or practice requiring
evidence to be corroborated or regulating the manner in which
uncorroborated evidence is to be treated, a statement rendered
admissible as evidence by this Act shall not be treated as
corroboration of evidence given by the maker of the statement.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 3
Proof of instrument to validity of which attestation is necessary.

3. Subject as hereafter in this section provided, in any
proceedings, whether civil or criminal, an instrument to the validity
of which attestation is requisite may, instead of being proved by
an attesting witness, be proved in the manner in which it might be
proved if no attesting witness were alive:

Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to the proof of
wills or other testamentary documents.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 4
Presumptions as to documents twenty years old.

4. In any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, there shall, in
the case of a document proved, or purporting, to be not less than
twenty years old, be made any presumption which immediately before
the commencement of this Act would have been made in the case of
a document of like character proved, or purporting, to be not less
than thirty years old.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 5
Rules of court as to proof by affidavit.

5.(1) Rules of court [and county court rules] may provide for
orders being made at any stage of any civil proceedings directing
that specific facts may be proved at the trial by affidavit with
or without the attendance of the deponent for cross-examination,
notwithstanding that a party desires the attendance of the deponent
for cross-examination and that he can be produced for that purpose.

Subs.(2) rep. by 1959 c.25 (NI) s.154(3) sch.5

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 6
Interpretation.

6.(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the
following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them, that
is to say:

"Court" includes any person or persons having power to take evidence
on an arbitration or reference;

"Documents" includes books, maps, plans, drawings and figures;

"Proceedings" includes arbitrations and references;

Definition rep. by 1978 c.23 s.122(2) sch.7 Pt.II

"Statement" includes any representation of facts whether made in
words or otherwise.

Subs.(2) rep. by 1954 c.33 (NI) s.48(1) sch.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 7
Savings.

7. Nothing in this Act shall

(a)prejudice the admissibility of any evidence which would, apart
from the provisions of this Act, be admissible; or

(b)enable documentary evidence to be given as to any declaration
relating to a matter of pedigree if that declaration would not have
been admissible as evidence if this Act had not passed.

EVIDENCE ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1939 - SECT 8
Short title.

8.(1) This Act may be cited as the Evidence Act (Northern Ireland),
1939.

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR (NI) 1952