Evidence and Powers of Attorney Act 1940
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1940 c. 28 |
| Year | 1940 |
Evidence and Powers of Attorney Act, 1940
(3 & 4 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 28.
An Act to empower certain officers and other persons to administer oaths and take affidavits, to facilitate the proof in criminal proceedings of documents intercepted in the post, and to make further provision as respects powers of attorney.
[13th June 1940]
B E it enacted by the King'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:—
1 Authority to administer oaths.
(1) The Lord Chancellor may by order provide for empowering officers of His Majesty's naval, military and air forces, holding such ranks or appointments as may be specified in the order, to administer oaths and take affidavits during any war in which His Majesty is engaged for all or any purposes for which an oath may be administered or affidavit taken by a commissioner for oaths appointed under section one of the Commissioners for Oaths Act, 1889 .
(2) The Secretary of State may by order provide for empowering persons serving in the diplomatic, consular or other foreign service of a Power which, by arrangement with His Majesty, has undertaken to represent His interests in a country in which He has for the time being no diplomatic or consular representatives appointed on the advice of His Government in the United Kingdom, to administer oaths and take affidavits for all or any of the purposes aforesaid.
(3) Any such order may prescribe—
(a ) the classes of persons to whom oaths may be administered or from whom affidavits may be taken in pursuance of the order;
(b ) the places or circumstances in which an oath or affidavit may be so administered or taken;
(c ) the facts to be stated in the jurat or attestation by any person by whom any oath or affidavit is so administered or taken.
(4) Any document purporting to have subscribed thereto the signature of any person in testimony of any oath or affidavit being administered or taken before him, and containing in the jurat or attestation a statement of the facts required to be stated therein by an order under this section, shall be admitted in evidence without proof of the signature being the signature of that person or of the facts so stated.
(5) As from the date on which an order made under subsection (1) of this section comes into force, the Commissioners for Oaths (Prize Proceedings) Act, 1907 , shall be repealed.
2 Proof in criminal proceedings of documents intercepted in post.
(1) In any criminal proceedings instituted, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, during the war period—
(a ) a certificate certifying that any document or documents annexed to, or otherwise identified by, the certificate constituted or formed part of a postal packet which was examined by an authorised examiner on a date specified therein; or
(b ) a certificate certifying that any photographic copy or copies so annexed or identified is or are a true copy or true copies, made by an authorised photographer, of any document or documents which constituted or formed part of such a postal packet as aforesaid,
shall, if purporting to be signed by a person being a competent officer, be admissible as evidence of the matters so certified, without proof of the signature being the signature of that person or of his official capacity.
(2) In this section—
(a ) the expression ‘authorised examiner’ means a person authorised by or on behalf of His Majesty to examine (whether within or without the United Kingdom) postal packets which have been despatched by post;
(b ) the expression ‘authorised photographer’ means a person authorised as aforesaid to photograph (whether within or without the United Kingdom) such postal packets as aforesaid;
(c ) the expression ‘competent officer’ means a person holding any such appointment or office (whether within or without the United Kingdom) concerned with the examination of postal packets as may be specified in an Order of His Majesty in Council;
(d ) the expression ‘document’ includes an envelope or other outer covering of a postal packet;
(e ) the expression ‘postal packet’ has the same meaning as in the Post Office Act, 1908 , but does not include a telegram while in the course of transmission by telegraph.
(3) His Majesty may by Order in Council direct that the foregoing provisions of this section shall extend, with such exceptions, adaptations and modifications, if any, as may be specified in the Order, to the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, any colony, any British protectorate, or any territory in respect of which a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations has been accepted by His Majesty and is being exercised by His Majesty's Government in the...
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