South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts34C—Admissibility of documentary evidence as to facts in issue
(1) In any civil
proceedings where direct oral evidence of a fact would be admissible, any
statement made by a person in a document and tending to establish that fact
shall, on production of the original document, be admissible as evidence of
that fact if the following conditions are satisfied, that is to say—
(a) if
the maker of the statement either—
(i)
had personal knowledge of the matters dealt with by the
statement; or
(ii)
where the document in question is or forms part of a
record purporting to be a continuous record, made the statement (in so far as
the matters dealt with thereby are not within his personal knowledge) in the
performance of a duty to record information supplied to him by a person who
had, or might reasonably be supposed to have, personal knowledge of those
matters; and
(b) if
the maker of the statement is called as a witness in the proceedings.
(1a) However, the
condition that the maker of the statement shall be called as a witness need
not be satisfied if he is dead, or unfit by reason of his bodily or mental
condition to attend as a witness, or if he is beyond the seas and it is not
reasonably practicable to secure his attendance, or if all reasonable efforts
to find him have been made without success.
(2) In any civil
proceedings, the court may at any stage of the proceedings, if having regard
to all the circumstances of the case it is satisfied that undue delay or
expense would otherwise be caused, order that such a statement as is mentioned
in subsection (1) of this section shall be admissible as evidence or may,
without any such order having been made, admit such a statement in
evidence—
(a)
notwithstanding that the maker of the statement is available but is not called
as a witness;
(b)
notwithstanding that the original document is not produced, if in lieu thereof
there is produced a copy of the original document or of the material part
thereof certified to be a true copy in such manner as may be specified in the
order or as the court may approve, as the case may be.
(3) Nothing in this
section shall render admissible as evidence any statement made by a person
interested at a time when proceedings were pending or anticipated involving a
dispute as to any fact which the statement might tend to establish.
(4) For the purposes
of this section, a statement in a document shall not be deemed to have been
made by a person unless the document or the material part thereof was written,
made or produced by him with his own hand, or was signed or initialled by him
or otherwise recognised by him in writing as one for the accuracy of which he
is responsible.
(5) For the purpose of
deciding whether or not a statement is admissible as evidence by virtue of the
foregoing provisions, the court may draw any reasonable inference from the
form or contents of the document in which the statement is contained, or from
any other circumstances, and may, in deciding whether or not a person is fit
to attend as a witness, act on a certificate purporting to be the certificate
of a legally qualified medical practitioner and where the proceedings are with
a jury, the court may in its discretion reject the statement notwithstanding
that the requirements of this section are satisfied with respect thereto, if
for any reason it appears to it to be inexpedient in the interests of justice
that the statement should be admitted.