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.