Directory_and_Chronicle_1886 — Page 791

IN CHINA AND JAPAN.

81

before a person duly authorized, and that its form is in accordance with the law and custom of the place where it is sworn.

before attorney

236. An affidavit shall not be admitted which is proved to have been Affidavit sworn sworn before a person on whose behalf the same is offered, or before his attorney, or before a partner or clerk of his attorney.

in suit.

witness

237. Every affidavit sworn before a British judicial or Consular officer Signature o in China or Japan must be signed by the witness; or in case the witness cannot write his name; his mark must be subscribed; such signature or mark to be made in the presence of the officer.

238. The jurat should be written without interlineation or erasure,. Jurat. immediately at the foot of the affidavit, and towards the left side of the paper, and must be signed by the judicial or Consular officer before whom the affidavit is sworn, and be sealed with the seal of the Court of which he is an officer, or with his Consular or other 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 subscribes his 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 names 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.

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

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 inust be made of the alteration.

Any officer 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 lieu thereof, require the witness to make a fresh affidavit.

240. A defective or erroneous affidavit may be amended and re-sworn, Amendment. 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 with Costs. these rules, the Court may make such order respecting the costs of, or connected with, the affidavit as seems just.

copy.

242. Before an affidavit is used in the Court, the original affidavit Filing of

original. Office must be filed in the Court; and the original, or an office copy thereof (that co 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.

Other Evidence.

interlocutory

243. On the hearing of any interlocutory or other application in a Vind voce suit or matter, the Court may, if it thinks it just and expedient, for rea- evidence on sons to be recorded in the minutes of proceedings, summon a British sub- or other ject to attend to produce documents before it, or to be examined, or to be application. cross-examined, and re-examined, viva voce, by or before it, in like manner as at the hearing of a suit.

Such notice as the Court, in cach case, according to the circumstances, consi lers reasonable, shall be given to the person summoned, and to such