Evidence by Certificate
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4902200410 |
| Author | J. Edmondson |
| Published date | 01 October 1949 |
| Date | 01 October 1949 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Evidence by Certificate
By
INSPECTOR
J.
EDMONDSON
Lancashire
Constabulary
BySection 41of the Criminal Justice Act, 1948, it is enacted
that
in any criminal proceedings a certificate purported to be signed
by a constable, or by a person having the prescribed qualifications
(limited by the Evidence by Certificate Rules, 1948, to a person
registered as an architect under
the
Architects (Registration) Act,
1931 to 1938, or a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of
Muni-
cipal Engineers
and
the
Land
Agents Society) and certifying
that
a
plan or drawing exhibited thereto is a plan or drawing made by him
of the place or object specified in the certificate, and
that
the plan or
drawing is correctly drawn to a scale so specified, shall be evidence
of the relative position of the things shown on the plan or drawing.
It
is further provided
that
in any proceedings for an offence
under the Road Traffic Acts, 1930 to 1947, or
under
any enactment
relating to
the
use of vehicles on roads, a certificate prescribed by the
same Rules purporting to be signed by a constable
and
certifying
that
aperson specified in the certificate stated to the
constable-
(a) that aparticular motor vehicle was being driven by, or
belonged to
that
person on a particular occasion; or
(b) that aparticular motor vehicle belonged on a particular
occasion to a firm in which
that
person also stated
that
he
was at
the
time of the statement apartner; or
(c)
that
aparticular motor vehicle belonged on a particular
occasion to a corporation of which that person also stated
that
he was at the time of the statement adirector, officer or
employee,
shall be admissible as evidence for the purpose of determining by whom
the vehicle was being driven, or to whom it belonged, as the case may
be, on
that
occasion.
This
section, like its war-time counterpart, viz. Reg. 17A of
the Defence (Administration of Justice) Regulations, 1940, is no
doubt
designed to conserve police man-power.
Normally, a plan or drawing could not be admitted as evidence
in a criminal case unless the person who made it attended court.
In the majority of cases the evidence of this class of witness was merely
formal; he was rarely cross-examined, and
thus
his time spent in
travelling to
the
court
and
waiting to give evidence was wasted.
Likewise, in a road traffic prosecution, the fact
that
acertain
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