of any witness or other person thereon, and the judge may direct such proceedings and make such order as upon the report may think just. he 27. Except where otherwise provided by this Order, or directed by the judge, no deposition shall be given in evidence at the trial of the action or matter without the consent of the party against whom the same may be offered, unless the judge is satisfied that the deponent is dead, or beyond the jurisdiction of the court, or unable from sickness or other infirmity to attend the trial, in any of which cases the depositions certified under the hand of the person taking the examination shall be admissible in evidence saving all just exceptions without proof of the signature to such certificate. 28. Any officer of the court, or other person directed to take the examination of any witness or person, may administer oaths. ORDER XIX. Affidavits. 1. All affidavits shall be expressed in the first person of the deponent, and be drawn up in paragraphs and numbered. 2. All affidavits, other than those for which forms are given in the appendix, shall state the deponent's age, occupation, quality, and place of residence, and also what facts or circumstances deposed to are within the deponent's own knowledge, and his means of knowledge, and what facts or circumstances deposed to are known to, or believed by him by reason of information derived from other sources than his own knowledge, and what such sources are. 2A (from the Rules of 1892). All affidavits other than those for which forms are given in the Appendix shall state the deponent's occupation, quality, and place of residence, and also what facts or circumstances deposed to are within the deponent's own knowledge, and his means of knowledge, and what facts or circumstances deposed to are known to or believed by him by reason of information derived from other sources than his own knowledge, and what such sources are. 3. Every affidavit shall be intituled in the action or matter in which it is sworn; but in every case in which there are more than one plaintiff or defendant, it shall be sufficient to state the full name of the first plaintiff or defendant respectively, and that there are other plaintiffs or defendants, as the case may be; and the costs occasioned by any unnecessary prolixity in any such title shall be disallowed by the registrar on taxation. 4. It shall be stated in a note at the foot of every affidavit filed on whose behalf it is so filed, and such note shall be copied on every office or other copy furnished to a party. 5. The costs of affidavits not in conformity with the preceding rules of this Order shall be disallowed on taxation, unless the registrar shall otherwise direct. 6. Before any affidavit is used it shall be filed in the office of the registrar, but this rule shall not hinder a judge from making an order in an urgent case upon the undertaking of the applicant to file any affidavit sworn before the making of such order, provided that such order be not issued until such affidavit shall have been filed. 7. An affidavit shall not be filed which has been sworn before a commissioner who was at the time of the swearing of the same the solicitor acting for the party on whose behalf such affidavit is to be used, or the agent, correspondent, partner, or clerk of such solicitor, or who is the party himself. 8. No affidavit or other document which is blotted so as to obliterate any word, or which is illegibly written, or so altered as to cause it to be illegible, or in the body or jurat of which there is any interlineation, alteration, or erasure, unless the person before whom the same is sworn shall have duly initialled such interlineation or alteration, and in the case of an erasure shall have re-written and signed in the margin of the affidavit or document the words or figures appearing to be written on the erasure, or which is so imperfect upon the face thereof by reason of having blanks thereon or otherwise that it cannot easily be read or understood, shall be filed or used in any action or matter, unless the judge or registrar shall otherwise order. 9. Where an affidavit is sworn by any person who appears to the officer taking the affidavit to be illiterate or blind, the officer shall certify in the jurat that the affidavit was read in his presence to the deponent, that the deponent seemed perfectly to understand it, and that the deponent made his signature in the presence of the officer. No such affidavit shall be used in evidence in the absence of this certificate, unless the judge is otherwise satisfied that the affidavit was read over to and appeared to be perfectly understood by the deponent. 10. Whenever a registrar rejects an affidavit or other document, he shall give notice, according to the form in the appendix, by post or otherwise, to the party offering the same for filing, of such rejection and the reasons thereof, but no such notice shall be necessary if the party offering the same is present when the registrar rejects the affidavit. GOVERNMENT BILL TO AMEND THE LAW OF EVIDENCE, 1897. Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1.-(1.) In any criminal proceeding the person charged shall be competent but not compellable to give evidence. (2.) In any such proceeding the wife or husband of the person charged shall be competent and, unless jointly charged, compellable to give evidence. (3.) Nothing in this act shall make a husband compellable to disclose any communication made to him by his wife during the marriage, or a wife compellable to disclose any communication made to her by her husband during the marriage. (4.) Proceedings to which section 34 of the Crown Suits, &c., Act, 1865, or the Evidence Act, 1877, applies, shall not be deemed criminal proceedings within the meaning of this act. (5.) Subject as aforesaid, this act shall apply to all criminal proceedings notwithstanding any enactment in force at the commencement of this act. 2. (1.) This act shall not extend to Ireland. (2.) This act shall come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight. (3.) This act may be cited as the Criminal Evidence Act, 1897. LIST OF STATUTES CONTAINING PROVISIONS UNDER WHICH DEFENDANTS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS AND THEIR WIVES OR HUSBANDS CAN GIVE EVIDENCE. Session and Chapter. 29 & 30 Vict. c. 109 35 & 36 Vict. c. 77 35 & 36 Vict. c. 94 38 & 39 Vict. c. 63 38 & 39 Vict. c. 86 40 & 41 Vict. c. 14 41 & 42 Vict. c. 12 41 & 42 Vict. c. 74 44 & 45 Vict. c. 58 46 & 47 Vict. c. 3 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51 47 Vict. c. 14 48 & 49 Vict. c. 69 50 & 51 Vict. c. 28 50 & 51 Vict. c. 58 51 & 52 Vict. c. 64 51 & 55 Vict. c. 76 57 & 58 Vict. c. 41 57 & 58 Vict. c. 60 57 & 58 Vict. c. 57 58 & 59 Vict. c. 24 58 & 59 Vict. c. 40 58 & 59 Vict. c. 58 Title or Short Title. The Naval Discipline Act, 1866, s. 92. Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872, s. 34 (4). Licensing Act, 1872, s. 51. Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, s. 21. An Act to Amend the Law of Evidence in certain cases of Misdemeanour, s. 1. An Act for the Prevention of Accidents by Threshing Machines, s. 3. Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1878, s. 66 (6). Army Act, s. 156 (3). Explosive Substances Act, 1883, s. 4. The Married Women's Property Act Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885, s. 20. Prevention of Cruelty to Children, The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, s. 457. Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, s. 57 (3). Corrupt and Illegal Practices, 1895, s. 2. INDEX. ABSENT WITNESSES: statements by, when admissible ACCEPTANCE: of contract, by post of contract, must be unqualified of goods, within Statute of Frauds, may be implied ACCOMPLICE: is a competent witness evidence of, must be corroborated corroboration should go to identity of prisoner rule as to corroboration one of practice, not law dying declaration by, is admissible. confession is not evidence against ACCOUNT: taken by direction of court, is primâ facie evidence of con- presumption of accuracy of, when unobjected to right to, proof of fraudulent item in, is ground for reopening .. must be set out, by executor answering interrogatories ACKNOWLEDGMENT: 195, 240 sufficiency of, within Statutes of Limitation, is a question for of receipt of rent, is not evidence of title of landlord's title, is evidence against subsequent tenants of wills to attesting witnesses of debt barred by limitation must be in writing of debt barred by limitation must be unconditional ACQUIESCENCE: 20 160 184 367 368 .. 368 . 369 evidence of, and of conduct, may be objectionable as hearsay |