Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1968

10 Convictions as evidence in civil proceedings. S

(1) If any civil proceedings the fact that a person has been convicted of an offence by or before any court in the United Kingdom or by a court-martial there or else-where shall (subject to subsection (3) of this section) be admissable in evidence for the purpose of proving, where to do so is relevant to any issue in those proceedings, that he committed that offence, whether he was so convicted upon a plea of guilty or otherwise and whether or not he is a party to the civil proceedings ; but no conviction other than a subsisting one shall be admissable in evidence by virtue of this section.

(2) In any civil proceedings in which by virtue of this section a person is proved to have been convicted of an offence by or before any court in the United Kingdom or by a court-martial there or elsewhere—

(a) he shall be taken to have committed that offence unless the contrary is proved, and

(b) without prejudice to the reception of any other admissable evidence for the purposes of identifying the facts which constituted that offence, the contents of any document which is admissable as evidence of the conviction, and the contents of the complaint, information, indictment or charge-sheet on which the person in question was convicted, shall be admissable in evidence for that purpose.

(3) Nothing in this section shall affect the operation of section 12 of this Act or any other enactment whereby a conviction or a finding of fact in any criminal proceedings is for the purposes of any other proceedings made conclusive evidence of any fact.

(4) Where in any civil proceedings the contents of any document are admissable in evidence by virtue of subsection (2) of this section, a copy of that document, or of the material part thereof, purporting to be certified or otherwise authenticated by or on behalf of the court or authority having custody of that document, shall be admissable in evidence and shall be taken to be a true copy of that document or part unless the contrary is shown.

(5) Nothing in any of the following enactments, that is to say—

(a) [F1 section 13 of the M1 Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973] (under which a conviction leading to probation or discharge is to be disregarded except as therein mentioned) ;

(b) [F2 section 191 of the M2 Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975] (which makes similar provision in respect of convictions on indictment in Scotland) ;

(c) section 8 of the M3 Probation Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 (which corresponds to the said section 12) or any corresponding enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for the time being in force,

shall, affect the operation of this section ; and for the purposes of this section any order made by a court of summary jurisdiction under [F2 section 383 of the said Act of 1975] shall be treated as a conviction.

(6) In this section “court-martial” means a court-martial constituted under the M4 Army Act 1955, the M5 Air Force Act 1955 or the M6 Naval Discipilne Act 1957 or a disciplinary court constituted under section 50 of the said Act of 1957, and in relation to a court-martial “conviction”, [F3 . . .], means a finding of guilty which is, or falls to be treated as, the finding of the court, and “convicted” shall be construed accordingly.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973 (c. 62), Sch. 5 para. 32

F2 Words substituted by virtue of Interpretation Act 1889 (c. 63), s. 38(1)

F3 Words in s. 10(6) repealed (1.4.1997 subject to transitional provisions in arts. 2-4 of the commencing S.I.) by 1996 c. 46, ss. 35(2), 36(2), Sch. 7 Pt. II; S.I. 1997/304, arts. 2-4

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 10 extended by Fair Trading Act 1973 (c. 41), s. 36(1)

C2 S. 10 extended by S.R. 1983/153, art. 18 and S.I. 1983/887, art. 18

C3 S. 10 explained (1.4.1996) by 1995 c. 43, s. 46(13)

C4 S. 10 extended (31.3.1996) by 1995 c. 20, s. 112(13) (which s. 112 was repealed (1.4.1996) by 1995 c. 40, ss. 4, 6(1), Sch. 3 Pt. II para. 16(3), Sch. 5)

Marginal Citations

M1 1973 c. 62.

M2 1975 c. 21.

M3 1950 c. 7 (N.I.).

M4 1955 c. 18.

M5 1955 c. 19.

M6 1957 c. 53.