Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

EVIDENCE ACT 1995 - SECT 48

             (1)  A party may adduce evidence of the contents of a document in question by tendering the document in question or by any one or more of the following methods:

                     (a)  adducing evidence of an admission made by another party to the proceeding as to the contents of the document in question;

                     (b)  tendering a document that:

                              (i)  is or purports to be a copy of the document in question; and

                             (ii)  has been produced, or purports to have been produced, by a device that reproduces the contents of documents;

                     (c)  if the document in question is an article or thing by which words are recorded in such a way as to be capable of being reproduced as sound, or in which words are recorded in a code (including shorthand writing)--tendering a document that is or purports to be a transcript of the words;

                     (d)  if the document in question is an article or thing on or in which information is stored in such a way that it cannot be used by the court unless a device is used to retrieve, produce or collate it--tendering a document that was or purports to have been produced by use of the device;

                     (e)  tendering a document that:

                              (i)  forms part of the records of or kept by a business (whether or not the business is still in existence); and

                             (ii)  is or purports to be a copy of, or an extract from or a summary of, the document in question, or is or purports to be a copy of such an extract or summary;

                      (f)  if the document in question is a public document--tendering a document that is or purports to be a copy of the document in question and that is or purports to have been printed:

                              (i)  by the Government Printer or by the government or official printer of a State or Territory; or

                             (ii)  by authority of the government or administration of the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or a foreign country; or

                            (iii)  by authority of an Australian Parliament, a House of an Australian Parliament, a committee of such a House or a committee of an Australian Parliament.

             (2)  Subsection (1) applies to a document in question whether the document in question is available to the party or not.

             (3)  If the party adduces evidence of the contents of a document under paragraph (1)(a), the evidence may only be used:

                     (a)  in respect of the party's case against the other party who made the admission concerned; or

                     (b)  in respect of the other party's case against the party who adduced the evidence in that way.

             (4)  A party may adduce evidence of the contents of a document in question that is not available to the party, or the existence and contents of which are not in issue in the proceeding, by:

                     (a)  tendering a document that is a copy of, or an extract from or summary of, the document in question; or

                     (b)  adducing from a witness evidence of the contents of the document in question.

Note 1:       Clause 5 of Part 2 of the Dictionary is about the availability of documents.

Note 2:       Section 182 gives this section a wider application in relation to Commonwealth records and certain Commonwealth documents.