copy thereof, shall in all courts and before all arbitrators or other persons be admitted as primâ facie evidence thereof, and of the fact and date of registration as shown thereon. Any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search the register and every registered bill of sale upon payment of one shilling for every copy of a bill of sale inspected; such payment shall be made by a judicature stamp." The 16th section of the Act of 1882 is as follows: "So much of the sixteenth section of the principal act as enacts that any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search the register and every registered bill of sale upon payment of one shilling for every copy of a bill of sale inspected is hereby repealed, and from and after the commencement of this act any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search the register, on payment of a fee of one shilling, or such other fee as may be prescribed, and subject to such regulations as may be prescribed, and shall be entitled at all reasonable times to inspect, examine, and make extracts from any and every registered bill of sale without being required to make a written application, or to specify any particulars in reference thereto, upon payment of one shilling for each bill of sale inspected, and such payment shall be made by a judicature stamp. Provided that the said extracts shall be limited to the dates of execution, registration, renewal of registration, and satisfaction, to the names, addresses, and occupations of the parties, to the amount of the consideration, and to any further prescribed particulars.” It would seem, however, that the production of a certificate of registration of a bill of sale, even though it states that the affidavit of execution has been duly filed, does not preclude the necessity of producing an office copy of the document (g). FRIENDLY SOCIETIES, AND INDUSTRIAL AND PROVIDENT SOCIETIES. For the provisions of the Friendly Societies Act, 1875, and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1878, on the subject of evidence, see the Appendix. NATURALIZATION. For the provisions of the Naturalization Act, 1870, on the subject of evidence, see the Appendix. HISTORIES Are said to be admissible to prove a matter relating to the kingdom at large (h), such as the death of a sovereign or the time of his accession; but not to prove a particular or local custom. Maps are inadmissible except under the circumstances mentioned (g) Emmott v. Marchant, L. R., 3 Q. B. D. 559; 47 L. J., Q. B. 436. (h) Bull. N. P. 248. in Part I. ch. 9. Thus in an Irish case (i) the maps of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland were rejected. Still less are peerages, army and navy lists, directories, calendars, or other non-official publications, admissible. (i) Swift v. M'Tiernan, 11 Ir. R., Eq. 632. CHAPTER IV. SECONDARY EVIDENCE.-PROOF OF HANDWRITING.ATTESTING WITNESSES.-WRITINGS WHICH REFRESH THE MEMORY. WHEN a party has done everything in his power to bring before the court primary evidence of his case, as by searching for documents in places where it was most reasonable to expect them to be deposited, or by giving the opposite party notice to produce them, he will then, and not till then, if he be unsuccessful in his exertions, be permitted by the court to give secondary evidence of such documents. The search must be bonâ fide and diligent (a). It is not necessary to call a person of whom inquiries have been made as to a deed, but his declarations may be given in evidence (b). If there are several places of probable deposit, all must be searched (c). Every possible search need not be made, but every reasonable search will be sufficient (d). There are no degrees in secondary evidence; and, therefore, when the absence of primary evidence is explained satisfactorily, any species of admissible secondary evidence may be substituted for the (a) R. v. Denio, 7 B. & C. 620. original. Thus, a lost deed may be proved, either by an attested copy or an examined copy, or by oral evidence of any one who can swear positively to the contents of the original; and therefore, where it appeared that a party held a copy of an original, which was not produced, it was held that he was not obliged to purchase the copy, but might give oral evidence of the original (e). "As soon as a party has accounted for the absence of the original document, he is at liberty to give any kind of secondary evidence. The rule is, that no evidence is to be adduced which ex naturâ rei supposes still greater evidence behind in the party's own power and possession" (f); and therefore it was held in Doe v. Ross, that oral evidence of an original might be substituted for an attested copy, which was tendered but rejected for want of a stamp. It is not, however, to be supposed that oral 'evidence of a document, although equally admissible with an attested or examined copy, is therefore entitled to the same credibility; and it will be for a jury to place their own estimate on the value of the witness's memory. Although either a copy or an oral proof of an original will be equally admissible as secondary evidence, the copy of a copy, although compared with it, will be inadmissible, notwithstanding that the first copy is also proved to have been compared carefully with the original (g). It will be presumed, in the absence of contrary (e) Brown v. Woodman, 6 C. & P. 206. (f) Per Parke, B., Doe v. Ross, 7 M. & W. 102. |