F
Report on an Ordinance intituled
An Ordinance to amend the Evidence Ordinance, 1889.
261
The main object of this Ordinance, which was intros
duced on account of the instructions of the Right Konour-
able the Secretary of State for the Colonies contained in
his circular despatch of the 26th May, 1915, is to assimi-
late the law of Hongkong to the law of the United Kingdom
in respect of the admissibility of affidavito and noterial
acts taken and made before British diplomatic or consular
officers. The only change effected by this part of the
Ordinance, i.e., by sections 2 and 3, is the enlargement
of the list of competent consular officers which was made
in the United Kingdom by the Commissioners for Oaths Act,
1891, 54 & 55 Vict. c. 50, 8.2.
An amendment of section 25 of the principal Ordinance
was thought necessary because it seemed doubtful whether
the definition of "consular officer" in the Interpretation
Ordinance, 1911, was quite wide enough,
Section 4 amends in three points section 32 of the
principal Ordinance,
Paragraphs (a) and (c) of that section correct a
grammatical mistake.
the
Paragraph (b) does away with what has often been a
source of embarrassment and might possibly have led in
some case to the loss of valuable evidence, 1.e.,
requirement that before a deposition can be taken some
medical practitioner must express an opinion that the
patient "is not likely to recover",
Paragraph (d) corrects a double error. In the first
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