JURIES AND EVIDENCE ORDINANCE

JURIES AND EVIDENCE ORDINANCE

QRDINAXPE , NQ; , ..7. y qps

No: . 7 of 18 5'7.
An' Ordinance for .mending the Laws relating to Juries and Evidence.

ist June, 1857,]

BE it enacted and ordained by. His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong,
with the
advice. of the. Legislative Council thereof, in manner following, that is
to say:--
1. From and after the passing of this Ordinance, there are hereby
extended to this
Colony the twenty-second section of the Act of Parliament passed in the
sixteenth
year of Her present Majesty, chapter eighty-six; relating to the Court of
Chancery;
arid also the whole of the Act of Parliament passed in the nineteenth
year of Her
Majesty, chapter forty-two, relating to oaths arid notarial acts, except
section four of
the last mentioned Act: And also except so much of s6ction five of the
said last men-
tioned Act as doth not relate to the impounding or custody of documents,
or the
tendering in evidence documents with false or counterfeit seals or
signatures thereto.

Q. Any person tendering in evidence within this Colony any false
affidavits, affirm-False atpdavitR,
afrmations and
mation, or notarial,acts within the meaning of section four of the said
last mentioned net,,.
Act, knowing the same to be false, shall, upon conviction thereof, suffer
the penalties
of perjury. t

3, All documents whatsoever, legally and properly filed or recorded in
any Foreign,
Court of Justice or Consulate, according to the Law and practice of such
Court or Con.
sulate, and all copies of such documents, shall be admissible in evidence
within this
Colony, upon being proved in like manner as any documents filed or
recorded in any
Foreign Court are proveable under this or any other Ordinance; and all
documents
whatsoever so filed or recorded in any Foreign Court or Consulate, and
all copies of
such documents, shall, when so proved and admitted, be holden as
authentic and effec-
tual for all purposes of evidence as the same would be holden in such
Court or Con-
sulate.

4. Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Supreme Court,, or
of the
Court of Petty Sessions, that the person conducting a criminal
prosecution on behalf of
the Crown is merely, by reason of the illness or absence from the Colony
of, or the
impracticability of serving process on, a person whose deposition shall
have been, duly
taken in the matter, before or on the committal of the,prisoner to take
his trial upon
such prosecution, unable to produce the said person as a witness upon the
said trial,
then and in such case the said deposition may be read at the said trial
as evidence
against the said prisoner, if the said Court shall think fit, [Repealed
by Ordinance No.
6 of 1854.1

E5, A heathen witness, in any Court or before any person, empowered to
administer
>3 oath, shall not be sworn either before or upon giving his,testimony,
unless the said
QQurt or person shall think fit so to direct; in which case the said
witness shall, be

-,sworn accprding to l~is,oonscexlc$. But query: heatlen witness shall,
before the, taking;;

Extends 15 & 16
'%'let. c. 36, s. 23,
and 18 & 19
Vict. c.42, with
curtain oxcop,
lions, to tlds

colony.

Foreign dace,

Depositions may

be read at trial
when the
fitness is absent,
or too ill to be
produced. .

heathen -
witnesses not trt-,
be-sworn, tbitt-by-
order of the
Court.
ORDINANCE No. 'l of 1857.

Evidence.

of his said evidence, be by, or by the order of, the said Court or
person, duly
warned to speak the truth, and informed of the penalties to which, in
case he shall not
speak the truth, he will become liable; it being hereby declared 'and
enacted, that the
penalties of perjury shall be deemed and taken to apply to false
testimony given by
any such witness, whether sworn or unsworn, in any case where, if he had
given the
same upon oath, he would by haw have thereby become liable to the same.
[.Repealed
by Ordinance No. 2 of 1860.

statements by
the same witness
may be punished
as perjury, if
material to the
issue.

Or (IYbeforo the
Snpreme court
.nrl'otty Seaalona)
aammarlly,
unless a prosecn-
tlon be directed,
and the like in
case of tendering
false documents.

6horteninthe
form of ingict-
menta mad Infor-
rnationa for per-
,lnry, S:c.

-Ordinances No. 4
of 1857, (§§ 6, 6.
&, 7,) and No. 14
of 1850, § 2,
amended and
confirmed; and
Ordinances No. 1
of 78b1, and No.
4 of 3864
repeated.

6. Where two or more contradictory statements of fact or alleged fact,
material to
the issue or matter in question, have been wilfully and knowingly made by
one'andthe
same witness, before any Court or person empowered as aforesaid, either
at the same
examination or at two or more examinations, and whether before the same
Court or
person, or before any other Court or person, and whether the respective
truth or false-
hood of the said statements can be ascertained or not, an indictment or
information
may be presented or exhibited against him, charging him with having, on
the day or.
days of his said examination or examinations, wilfully and knowingly made
the said
conflicting or contradictory statements, and setting forth the short
material purport or
effect thereof respectively; and if such witness shall be thereof
convicted in whole or
in part, he shall suffer the penalties of perjury.

7, If the Court before which any false document within the meaning
of.seetion
2 shall have been tendered, or before which the statements in section 6
mentioned,
or the last of them, shall have been so made, shall happen to be the
Supreme Court, or`
the Court of Potty Sessions, such Court may, if it shall think fit,
either direct a pro-
secution of the same offence for perjury, and commit the offender, unless
he shall give
bail, for trial at the next Sessions of the Court so committing, or treat
the same as a
contempt of Court, and forthwith proceed summarily to punish the same,
either by fine
not exceeding for every such offence two hundred dollars, or by
imprisonment, with or
without hard labour, for a term not exceeding for every such offence six
calendar
months, which punishment shall be in lieu of all other penalties hereby
provided:

$, Matters of inducement, and averments, whether affirmative or negative;
shall
no longer be introduced into indictments or informations for perjury,
false witness, or
false declaration; and it shall be sufficient to charge therein,
according to the'facts,
that the defendant, on the day or days named, falsely, knowingly, and
wilfully stated
or tendered before the Court or person empowered as aforesaid, the
matters alleged'to
be false, setting forth the same shortly, and according to the
substantial effect.thereofa
[ Repealed by Ordinance No. 3 of 1865.

9. Section 5 of Ordinance No. 4 of 1$51 is hereby amended, by
substituting the.
word ` February' for the word `January' ;-Sections 6 and 7 of the same
Ordinance .
are hereby revived and confirmed ; Section 2 of Ordinance No. 14 of 1856,
~ is heiebv

amended by inserting the word `First' before the word `Schedule' ; And
Ordinances';
No. 1 of 1851 and No. '4 of 1854, are hereby repealed. [So much as
relates to secaoqrs`.

6, 6 ej~ 7 of Ordinance No. 4~of 1851 repealed by Ordinance-No. 11 of
1864.
No. 7 of 1857.

Evidence.

10. The word `Witneols' in this Ordinance sha'4, extend to every person
whose
acknowledgment, answer, plea, deposition, affidavit, or other declaration
upon oath,
either vivit voce, in writing, or upon record, may be takeu- or might
have been taken
but for this Ordinance.

11. All acts heretofore done, which if done after the passing of this
Ordinance, Retrospective.
or during the time when the Ordinance No. 15 of 1856 was in force, would
have
been legally doile, or which were legally done during the time last
aforesaid, are hereby
made legal and valid for all purposes soever.

i Witness,
defined.

[All repealed by Ordinance No. 2 of 1889.]
Exends 15 & 16 Vict. c. 36, s 22, and 18 & 19 Vict. c. 42, with certain exceptions, this Colony.
False affidavits, affirmations and acts.
Foreign documents.
Depositions may be read at trial when the witness os absent, or too ill to be produced.
Heathen witness not to be sworn, but by order of the Court.
Contradictory statements by the same witness may be punished as perjury, if material to the issue.
Or if before Supreme Court or Petty Sessions) summarily, unless a prosecution be directed, and the like in case of tendering false documents.
Shortening the form of indictments and informations for perjury, &c.
Ordinances No. 4 of 1851, (ss. 5, 6, & 7,) adn No. 14 of 1856, s 2, amended and confirmed; and Ordinances No. 1 of 1851, and No. 4 of 1854 repealed.
383

'Witness' defined.
Retrospective.

Exends 15 & 16 Vict. c. 36, s 22, and 18 & 19 Vict. c. 42, with certain exceptions, this Colony.
False affidavits, affirmations and acts.
Foreign documents.
Depositions may be read at trial when the witness os absent, or too ill to be produced.
Heathen witness not to be sworn, but by order of the Court.
Contradictory statements by the same witness may be punished as perjury, if material to the issue.
Or if before Supreme Court or Petty Sessions) summarily, unless a prosecution be directed, and the like in case of tendering false documents.
Shortening the form of indictments and informations for perjury, &c.
Ordinances No. 4 of 1851, (ss. 5, 6, & 7,) adn No. 14 of 1856, s 2, amended and confirmed; and Ordinances No. 1 of 1851, and No. 4 of 1854 repealed.
383

'Witness' defined.
Retrospective.

https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/113

1890

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No. 7 of 1857

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