The Evidence (Bechuanaland Protectorate) Order 1965

Statutory Instruments

1965 No. 1720

EVIDENCE

The Evidence (Bechuanaland Protectorate) Order 1965

Made

18th September 1965

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 18th day of September 1965

Present,

The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Whereas Her Majesty in Council is satisfied that there exist in Bechuanaland public registers kept under the law of Bechuanaland and recognised by the courts thereof as authentic records, and that those registers are regularly and properly kept:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by virtue and in the exercise of the powers conferred on Her by section 5(1) of the Oaths and Evidence (Overseas Authorities and Countries) Act 1963, and all other powers in that behalf in Her vested, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—

1.  The registers of Bechuanaland specified in the first column of the Schedule to this Order shall be deemed to be public registers kept under the authority of the law of Bechuanaland and recognised by the courts thereof as authentic records, and to be documents of such a public nature as to be admissible as evidence of the matters regularly recorded therein.

2.  For the purposes of the preceding Article all matters recorded in the register shall be deemed, until the contrary is proved, to be regularly recorded.

3.  Subject to any requirements of rules of court, a document which purports to be issued in Bechuanaland as an official copy of an entry in a register specified in the first column of the Schedule to this Order and which purports to be authenticated by an officer of Bechuanaland in the manner specified in that Schedule, shall, without evidence as to the custody of the register or of inability to produce it and without any further or other proof, be received as evidence that the register contains such an entry.

4.  Nothing in this Order shall be taken to prohibit or restrict the admission in evidence of any copy, extract, summary, certificate or other document whatsoever which, apart from the provisions of this Order, would be admissible as evidence of any particular matter, or to affect any power which, otherwise than by virtue of this Order, is exercisable by any court with respect to the admission of documents in evidence.

5.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Evidence (Bechuanaland Protectorate) Order 1965.

(2) This Order extends to all parts of the United Kingdom.

W.G. Agnew

Article 1

SCHEDULE

Register	Certifying Officers	Mode of Authentication
Births Register	The Registrar of Births and Deaths	the signature of the certifying officer.
Register of Marriages	The Registrar of Marriages or a Marriage Officer	the signature of the certifying officer.
Deaths Register	The Registrar of Births and Deaths	the signature of the certifying officer.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Order makes entries contained in specified public registers of Bechuanaland admissible in evidence in the United Kingdom and provides for their proof by official certificates.