Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) In this section, "public document" means a document that is admissible as evidence of the facts it states upon its mere production from proper custody, and includes letters patent, deeds of grant from the Crown and any document kept or registered under any law in force in the Territory.
(2) A document proved to be a duplicate copy of a public document is admissible in evidence as if it were the original.
(3) A document purporting to be a copy of, or an extract from, a public document is admissible in evidence as if it were the original or, as the case may be, part of the original if it is:
(a) an examined copy or examined extract; or
(b) certified as a true copy or extract by an officer having the custody of the original.
(4) In any proceedings to which an officer having the custody of a public document is not a party, the officer shall not be compellable to produce the original document except by order of the Court made for special cause.
(5) A document purporting to be certified as mentioned in subsection (3)(b) shall, if the person producing it has served a copy of it on the adverse party, together with a notice of his intention to produce it in evidence at the hearing, at such time as would in the opinion of the Court have enabled the adverse party to verify it, be admitted in evidence without proof of the signature or official position of the person certifying it.
(6) Where a public document has been kept or registered for more than 30 years, a document which is proved to be a duplicate copy, or which is an examined copy or is certified to be a true copy as mentioned in subsection (3)(b), shall be prima facie evidence of its due execution.
(7) An officer having the custody of a public document shall supply a document certified by the officer to be a true copy of or extract from the original on the application of any person, accompanied, where no other fee is provided for by any law in force in the Territory, by the prescribed fee.