266 ORDINANCE No. 3 OF 1852 .
Law of Evidence.
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, or Court within the
territories under the Government of the East India Company 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 hereinbefore respectively
directed, the same shall respectively be admitted in evidence in every case in which
the original documents could have been received in evidence, without any proof of the
seal, where a seal is necessary, or of the signature, or 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.
Registers of 6. Every register of a vessel may be proved in any of Her Majesty's Courts of
vessels and certi
ficates ofregis Justice, or before any person having, by law or by consent of parties, authority to hear,
try admissible as
prima facie evi receive, and examine evidence as aforesaid, either by the production of the original, or
dence of their
contents, &c.
[See Ord. No. 8 of by an examined copy thereof, or by a copy thereof purporting to be certified under the
1879 Sec. 3.]
hand of the person having the charge of the original ; and such 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 dollar ; and every such register or such
copy of a register, and also every certificate of registry granted under any of the Acts
of Parliament 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 aforesaid , 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.
Where necessary 7. Whenever in any proceeding whatever it may be necessary to prove the trial
to prove acquittal
or conviction of and conviction or acquittal of any person charged with any indictable offence, it shall
person charged,
not necessary to
produce record , not be necessary to produce the record of the conviction or acquittal of such person, or
but may be pro
duced under a copy thereof, but it shall be sufficient that it be certified, or purport to be certified,
hand of clerk of
Court. under the hand of the clerk of the Court, or other officer having the custody of the
records of the Court, where such conviction or acquittal took place, or by the deputy of
such clerk or other 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.
Examination or 8. Whenever any book or other document is of such public nature as to be ad
certified copies of
documents ad missible in evidence on its mere production from the proper custody, any copy thereof,
missible in evi
dence .
or extract therefrom , shall be admissible in evidence in the Supreme Court, or before
any person now or hereafter having, by law or by consent of parties, authority to hear,