Evidence Act 1851
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1851 c. 99 |
| Year | 1851 |
(14 & 15 Vict.) C A P. XCIX.
[7th August 1851]
'WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Law of Evidence in divers Particulars:' Be it therefore 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:
I Recited Proviso in s. 1. of 6 & 7 Vict. c. 85. repealed.
I. So much of Section One of the Act of the Sixth and Seventh Years of Her present Majesty, Chapter Eighty-five, as provides that the said Act shall ‘not render competent any Party to any Suit, Action, or Proceeding individually named in the Record, or any Lessor of the Plaintiff, or Tenant of Premises sought to be recovered in Ejectment, or the Landlord or other Person in whose Right any Defendant in Replevin may make Cognizance, or any Person in whose immediate and individual Behalf any Action may be brought or defended, either wholly or in part,’ is hereby repealed.
II Parties to be admissible Witnesses.
II. On the Trial of any Issue joined, or of any Matter or Question, or on any Inquiry arising in any Suit, Action, or other Proceeding in any Court of Justice, or before any Person having by Law, or by Consent of Parties, Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, the Parties thereto, and the Persons in whose Behalf any such Suit, Action, or other Proceeding may be brought or defended, shall, except as herein-after excepted, be competent and compellable to give Evidence, eitherviv voce or by Deposition, according to the Practice of the Court, on behalf of either or any of the Parties to the said Suit, Action, or other Proceeding.
III Person charged with criminal Offence not compellable to criminate himself, &c.
III. But nothing herein contained shall render any Person who in any criminal Proceeding is charged with the Commission of any indictable Offence, or any Offence punishable on summary Conviction, competent or compellable to give Evidence for or against himself or herself, or shall render any Person compellable to answer any Question tending to criminate himself or herself, or shall in any criminal Proceeding render any Husband competent or compellable to give Evidence for or against his Wife, or any Wife competent or compellable to give Evidence for or against her Husband.
IV Not to apply to Proceedings in Adultery, &c.
IV. Nothing herein contained shall apply to any Action, Suit, Proceeding, or Bill in any Court of Common Law, or in any Ecclesiastical Court, or in either House of Parliament, instituted in consequence of Adultery, or to any Action for Breach of Promise of Marriage.
V Not to repeal 7 W. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 26.
V. Nothing herein contained shall repeal any Provision contained in Chapter Twenty-six of the Statute passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the Seventh Year of the Reign of KingWilliam the Fourth and the First Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty.
VI Common Law Courts authorized to compel Inspection of Documents whenever Equity would grant Discovery.
VI. Whenever any Action or other legal Proceeding shall henceforth be pending in any of the Superior Courts of Common Law atWestminster or Dublin , or the Court of Common Pleas for the County Palatine of Lancaster , or the Court of Pleas for the County of Durham , such Court and each of the Judges thereof may respectively, on Application made for such Purpose by either of the Litigants, compel the opposite Party to allow the Party making the Application to inspect all Documents in the Custody or under the Control of such opposite Party relating to such Action or other legal Proceeding, and, if necessary, to take examined Copies of the same, or to procure the same to be duly stamped, in all Cases in which previous to the passing of this Act a Discovery might have been obtained by filing a Bill or by any other Proceeding in a Court of Equity at the Instance of the Party so making Application as aforesaid to the said Court or Judge.
VII Foreign and Colonial Acts of State, Judgments, &c. provable by certified Copies, without Proof of Seal or Signature, or judicial Character of Person signing the same.
VII. All Proclamations, Treaties, and other Acts of State of any Foreign State or of anyBritish Colony, and all Judgments, Decrees, Orders, and other judicial Proceedings of any Court of Justice in any Foreign State or in any British Colony, and all Affidavits, Pleadings, and other legal Documents filed or deposited in any such Court, may be proved in any Court of Justice, or before any Person having by Law or by Consent of Parties Authority to hear, receive, and examine Evidence, either by examined Copies or by Copies authenticated as herein-after mentioned; that is to say, if the Document sought to be proved be a Proclamation, Treaty, or other Act of State, the authenticated Copy to be admissible in Evidence must purport to be sealed with the Seal of the Foreign State or British Colony to which the original Document belongs; and if the Document sought to be proved be a Judgment, Decree, Order, or other judicial Proceeding of any Foreign or Colonial Court, or an Affidavit, Pleading, or other legal Document filed or deposited in any...
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