Directory_and_Chronicle_1882 — Page 650

IN CHINA AND JAPAN.

79

Magistrate in any foreign country authorized to a minister an oath, -or in the case of a foreigner in China or Japan before his own proper Consular or other authority,-may be used in the Court.

forin.

235. An affidavit may be used, notwithstanding it is defective Affidavit defective in in form according to these Rules, if the Court is satisfied that it has been sworn before a person duly authorized, and that its form is in accordance with the law and customs of the place where it is

sworn.

J

attorney in suit,

236. An afli lavit shall not be admitted which is proved to have Affidavit sworn before b en sworn before a person on whos behalf the same is offered, or before his attorney, or before a partner or clerk of his attorney.

237. Every affidavit sworn before a British judicial or Con- Signature of witness. sular officer in China or Japan must be signed by the witne-s; or in case the witness cannot write his name, his mark must be sub- scribed; such signature or mark to be made in the presence of the officer.

238. The jurat should be written without interlineation or Jurat. erasure, immed ately at the foot of the affidavit, and towards the left side of the paper, and must be signed by the judicial or Con- sular officer before whom the affidavit is sworu, and be sealed with the seal of the Court of which he is an officer, or with his Consular or ot er official seal (as the case may be).

It must state the date of the swearing of the affidavit, and the place where it was sworn.

It must state that the affidavit was sworn before the judicial or Consular officer.

Where the witness is blind or illiterate it must state that fact, and that the affidavit was read over to him in the presence of the officer, and that the witness appeared perfectly to understand it.

Where the witness cannot write his name, and therefore subscribe bis mark, the jurat must state those facts, and that the mark was made in the presence of the officer.

Where two or more persons join in making an affidavit, their several nam s must be written in the jurat, and it must appear by the jurat that each of them has been sworn to the truth of the several matters stated by him in the affidavit.

re-swearing.

239. The judicial or Consular officer must not allow an affidavit, Alteration and when once sworn, to be altered in any manner whatever without being re-sworn.

If the jurat has been added and signed, a new jurat must be added if the affidavit is re sworn; and in the new jurat mention must be made of the alteration.

Any offic r before whom an affidavit is proposed to be re sworn after alteration, may refuse to allow the same to be re-sworn, and may, in li u thereof, require the witness to make a fresh affidavit.

240. A defective or erroneous affidavit may be amended and Amendment. re-sworn, by special leave of the Court in which it is to be used, on such terms as to time, costs, and other things, as seem just.

241. Where an affidavit used in the Court is not in accordance Costs.

with these rules, the Court may make such order respecting the

costs of, or connected with, the affidavit as seins just.

242. Before an affidavit is used in the Court, the original Filing of original. Office affidavit must be filed in the Court; an 1 the original, or an office py

copy thereof (that is, a copy sealed with the seal of the Court as evidence of its being a correct copy, and either made under the direction of the Court or produced to the Court for examination and sealing), shall alone be recognized for any purpose in the Court.