Different sorts of copies used for proof of records, &c. must, at least in general, be in a written form, i. e. in the shape of a copy, &c., and, as already mentioned (c), must not be a copy of a copy. In very few, if in any, instances is oral evidence receivable to prove the contents of a record or public book which is in existence. § 469. The principal sorts of copies used for the proof of records and other judicial and public documents are, 1. Exemplifications under the great seal. 2. Exemplifications under the seal of the court where the record is. 3. Office copies, i. e. copies made by an officer appointed by law for the purpose. 4. Examined copies. An examined copy is a copy sworn to be a true copy by a witness who has compared it line for line with the original, or who has examined the copy while another person read the original. The document must be in a character and language that the witness understands (d), and he must also have read the whole of it (e). When the latter of the above modes of examination is resorted to, it was formerly thought unnecessary to call both the persons engaged in it, or that they should have alternately read and inspected the original and copy, for that it ought not to be presumed that a person would wilfully misread a record (f); but this has been overruled by the house of lords (g). An examination of the cases in which these various species of copies may be How unjust would it be if the op- a copy. (c) Supra, § 466. (d) Crawford Peerage case, 2 Ho. Lo. Cas. 544-5. (e) Nelthrop v. Johnson, Clayt. 142, pl. 259. (f) Rolfe v. Dart, 2 Taunt. 52; Giles v. Hill, 1 Campb. 471, note. (g) Slane Peerage case, 5 Cl. & F. 42. used as proof of public documents would be altogether foreign to a work like the present; suffice it to say that In some cases there are a few instances where none of them are re- receivable. no form of copy ceivable, and the original must be produced. Of these the principal is where the gist of a party's action or defence lies in a record of the court where the cause is, and issue is joined on a pleading of nul tiel record. Here it is obvious that the reasons which plead so strongly for allowing inferior evidence to prove records, &c. (h), do not apply: "Cessante ratione legis cessat ipsa lex (i).” Examined or of documents § 470. Public documents, though not of a judicial Proof of public nature; such as registers of births, marriages and deaths, documents. &c. (k); the books of the Bank of England (1), or East India Company (m); bank bills on the file at the Bank (n), &c., are, in general, provable by examined copies. And 14 & 15 Vict. by 14 & 15 Vict. c. 99, s. 14, it is enacted that "When- c. 99, s. 14. ever any book or other document is of such a public certified copies nature as to be admissible in evidence on its mere pro- admissible in duction from the proper custody, and no statute exists evidence. which renders its contents provable by means of a copy, any copy thereof or extract therefrom shall be admissible in evidence in any court of justice, or before any person now or hereafter having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, provided it be proved to be an examined copy or extract, or provided it purport to be signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer to whose custody the original is intrusted, &c." § 471. By several modern acts of parliament special Modern modes of proof are provided for many other kinds of statutes. (h) Supra, § 468. (i) Co. Litt. 70 b. (k) Lynch v. Clarke, Holt, 293; 3 Salk. 154; Sayer v. Glossop, 2 Exch. 409. (1) Mortimer v. M'Callan, 6 M. & W. 58. (m) Shelling v. Farmer, 1 Str. 646; note to the case of R. v. Lord Geo. Gordon, 2 Dougl. 593. (n) Man v. Cary, 3 Salk. 155. 14 & 15 Vict. c. 99, s. 7. Foreign and colonial acts of state, judgments, &c. provable by without proof of seal or sig. nature or judicial character of person signing the same. records and public documents. By the 7th section of the statute 14 & 15 Vict. c. 99, quoted above (o), it is enacted, "All proclamations, treaties, and other acts of state of any foreign state or of any British colony, and all judgments, decrees, orders, and other judicial certified copies, 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 hereinafter 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 such court, the authenticated copy to be admissible in evidence must purport either to be sealed with the seal of the foreign or colonial court to which the original document belongs, or, in the event of such court having no seal, to be signed by the judge, or, if there be more than one judge, by any one of the judges of the said court, and such judge shall attach to his signature a statement in writing on the said copy that the court whereof he is a judge has no seal; but if any of the aforesaid authenticated copies shall purport to be sealed or signed as hereinbefore respectively directed, the same shall respectively be admitted in evidence in every case in which the original document could have been received in evidence, without any proof of the seal where a seal is necessary, or of the signature, or of the truth of the statement attached thereto, where such signature and (0) Supra, § 470. British vessels and certificates of registry adprima facie evi missible as dence of their statement are necessary, or of the judicial character of the person appearing to have made such signature and statement." By sect. 12, "Every register of a vessel kept Sect. 12. under any of the acts relating to the registry of British Registers of vessels 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 the production of the original or by an examined copy contents, withthereof, or by a copy thereof purporting to be certified out proof of under the hand of the person having the charge of the signature, &c. original, and which person is hereby required to furnish such certified copy to any person applying at a reasonable time for the same, upon payment of the sum of one shilling; and every such register or such copy of a register, and also every certificate of registry, granted under any of the acts relating to the registry of British vessels, and purporting to be signed as required by law, shall be received in evidence in any court of justice, or before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to hear, receive, and examine evidence, as primâ facie proof of all the matters contained or recited in such register when the register or such copy thereof as aforesaid is produced, and of all the matters contained or recited in or endorsed on such certificate of registry when the said certificate is produced." And by sect. 13, "Whenever in Sect. 13. any proceeding whatever it may be necessary to prove the trial and conviction or acquittal of any person charged with any indictable offence, it shall not be necessary to produce the record of the conviction or acquittal of such person, or a copy thereof, but it shall be sufficient that it be certified or purport to be certified under the hand of the clerk of the court or other officer having the custody of the records of the court where such conviction or acquittal took place, or by the deputy of such clerk or other officer, that the paper produced is a copy of the record of the indictment, trial, conviction, and judgment or acquittal, as the case may be, omitting the formal Where necessary to prove conviction or acquittal of person charged, not necessary to produce record, but may be certified under hand of clerk of court. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 113. Copies of private acts, printed by queen's printer, admissible as evidence. parts thereof" (o). The 8 & 9 Vict. c. 113, s. 3, enacts, "All copies of private and local and personal acts of parliament not public acts, if purporting to be printed by the queen's printers, and all copies of the journals of journals of either house of parliament, and of royal proclamations, parliament, and proclamations, purporting to be printed by the printers to the crown or by the printers to either house of parliament, or by any or either of them, shall be admitted as evidence thereof by all courts, judges, justices, and others, without any proof being given that such copies were so printed” (p), &c. &c. Of these and similar enactments it may be observed, that in general they are cumulative, not substitutionary, i. e. they do not supersede the common law mode of proof, and only provide a more easy or summary one, of which parties may, if they please, avail themselves (q). 4. Proof of appointments of public officers. 5. Examination § 472. 4. Another exception is in the case of public officers. It is a general principle that a person's acting in a public capacity is primâ facie evidence of his having been duly authorized so to do; and even though the office be one the appointment to which must be in writing, it is not, at least in the first instance, necessary to produce the document or account for its nonproduction. The grounds of this have been examined in another place (r). § 473. 5. Where a witness is being questioned on the on the voir dire. voir dire with the view of ascertaining his competency, if that competency depends on written instruments he may state their nature and contents (s). (0) On this subject see also 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, s. 11. (p) See these statutes at length in the Appendix, N. 1. (q) See Tayl. Ev. § 1139. (r) Supra, ch. 1, sect. 1; subsect. 2, §§ 337, et seq. (s) Tayl. Ev. § 342. See also per Maule, J., in Macdonnell v. Evans, 11 C. B. 930. |