EVIDENCE ACT 1929 - SECT 45

EVIDENCE ACT 1929 - SECT 45

45—Documents relating to transportation of persons or goods

        (1)         An apparently genuine document purporting to be a document of a prescribed nature and to relate to the transportation or shipment of any person or goods, from one place to another—

            (a)         shall be admissible in evidence on production without further proof; and

            (b)         shall be evidence of any fact stated, or referred to, in the document, or to be inferred from the document, and where the document relates to the shipment of goods, shall be evidence that the ownership of goods referred to in the document is in the consignee named in the document or his assignee.

        (2)         Evidence of the description of any package or property, or of any inscription or mark upon any package or property shall be admissible (without production of the original inscription or mark) for the purpose of raising an inference as to the identity of the package or property with that referred to in a document admissible in evidence under this section.

        (3)         For the purpose of determining the evidentiary weight, if any, of a document admitted in evidence under this section, consideration shall be given to the source from which the document is produced, the safeguards (if any) that have been taken to ensure its accuracy and any other relevant matters.

        (4)         In this section—

"document of a prescribed nature" means—

            (a)         bill of lading, manifest, shipping receipt, consignment note, way-bill, delivery sheet, register or order, invoice, ticket, passenger list or register, and any document of a like nature; or

            (b)         any reproduction of any such document by photographic, photostatic, lithographic or other like process;

"shipment" means carriage by any means by air, land or water.