SCHEDULE I. 2. Parties may by consent enlarge or abridge any of the times fixed by the Rules for taking any step or filing any document, or Enlargement giving any notice in any suit. Where such consent cannot be obtained, either party may apply to the Court at any time, and the Court may make such order upon such terms and conditions as may seem just. and abridg ment of time. ORDER V. Public or Sittings of the What Orders to be made. Recovery of Costs. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 1. The Sittings of the Court for the hearing of causes shall ordinarily be public; but the Court may, for a reason to be specified by it on the Minutes, hear any particular cause or matter in the presence only of the parties, with their Legal Advisers (if any), and the Officers of Court. 2. Subject to particular Rules, the Court may in all causes and matters make any Order which it considers necessary for doing justice, whether such Order has been expressly asked by the person entitled to the benefit of the Order or not. 3. All fines, forfeitures, pecuniary penalties and costs ordered to Penalties and be paid may be levied by distress, seizure, and sale of the moveable and immoveable property of the person making default in payment, and any bill of sale or mortgage or transfer of property made with the view of avoiding such distress, seizure or sale, shall be ineffectual for such purpose. Notices. Office hours. Filing. Government Officers may appear for Crown, &c. 4. In all cases in which the publication of any Notice is required the same may be made by advertisement in the "Gazette," unless otherwise provided in any particular case by any Rule of Court or otherwise ordered by the Court. 5. The several Offices of the Court shall be open at such times as the Chief Justice shall direct by any Order published in the “Gazette"; and, subject as aforesaid, they shall be open betwixt the hours of ten and four on every day of the year, except Sundays, Good Friday, Monday and Tuesday in Easter week, Christmas Day, and the day next before and next after Christmas Day, and all Public Holidays. 6. A document shall not be filed unless it has indorsed on it the name and number of the cause, the date of filing, and whether filed by plaintiff or defendant; and on being filed such indorsement shall be initialled by the Registrar. 7. In any cause or matter to which the Crown, the Government of the Colony, or any Department thereof, the Governor, or the head of any Government Department is a party in his official capacity, any Government Officer may appear, plead, and act for such party, if authorized by the Governor, or by the head of the Government Department involved as the case may be. SCHEDULE I. ORDER VI. EVIDENCE. 1. Exclusion of Witnesses. of Court. 1. On the application of either party, or of its own motion, the Ordering Court order Witnesses on both sides to be kept out of Court; Witnesses out may but this Rule does not extend to the parties themselves or to their respective Legal Advisers, although intended to be called as Witnesses. 2. The Court may during any trial take such means as it con- Preventing siders necessary and proper for preventing communication with communicaWitnesses who are within the Court House or its precincts awaiting Witnesses. examination. 2. Discrediting Witnesses. 3. The party producing a Witness shall not be allowed to impeach his credit by general evidence of bad character, but he may, in case the Witness shall in the opinion of the Court prove adverse, contradict him by other evidence, or by leave of the Court prove that he has made at other times a statement inconsistent with his present testimony; but before such last-mentioned proof can be given the circumstances of the supposed statement, sufficient to designate the particular occasion, must be mentioned to the Witness, and he must be asked whether or not he has made such statement. tion with How far a credit his own adverse 4. If a Witness upon cross-examination as to a former state- Proof of Conment made by him relative to the subject-matter of the trial, and tradictory inconsistent with his present testimony, does not distinctly admit Statements of that he has made such statement, proof may be given that he did Witnesses. in fact make it; but before such proof can be given the circumstances of the supposed statement sufficient to designate the particular occasion must be mentioned to the Witness, and he must be asked whether or not he has made such statement. 5. A Witness may be cross-examined as to previous statements Cross-Examimade by him in writing relative to the subject-matter of the trial nation as to without such writing being shown to him, but if it is intended to Statements in previous contradict such Witness by the writing his attention must, before Writing. such contradictory proof can be given, be called to those parts of the writing which are to be used for the purpose of so contradicting him: provided always, that it shall be competent for the Court, at any time during the trial, to require the production of the writing for its inspection, and the Court may thereupon make use of it for the purposes of the trial, as it shall think fit. 6. A Witness on any trial may be questioned as to whether he Proof of has been convicted of any felony or misdemeanour, and, upon Pretion of previous Conbeing so questioned, if he either denies the fact or refuses to Witness may answer, it shall be lawful for the opposite party to prove such con- be given. viction; and a Certificate, containing the substance and effect only Ord. 6. SCHEDULE I. (omitting the formal part) of the indictment or information and conviction for such offence, purporting to be signed by the Registrar or other Officer having the custody of the Records of the Court where the offender was convicted, or by the Deputy of such Registrar or Officer, shall, upon proof of the identity of the person convicted, be sufficient evidence of the said conviction, without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed the same. Attesting Witness need not be called except in certain cases. Comparison of disputed Writing. Entries in Government Proof of Proclamations, &c. Books of Maps, Charts. Foreign Law. Public Maps. Production of Documents without 3. Documentary Evidence. 7. It shall not be necessary to prove by the Attesting Witness any Instrument to the validity of which attestation is not requisite ; and such Instrument may be proved by admission or otherwise, as if there had been no Attesting Witness thereto. 8. Comparison of a disputed writing with any writing proved to the satisfaction of the Court to be genuine, may be made by the Court, or by Witnesses; and such writings, and the evidence of Witnesses respecting the same, shall be evidence of the genuineness or otherwise of the writing in dispute. 9. Entries in books of accounts kept in the course of business with such a reasonable degree of regularity as shall be satisfactory to the Court, shall be admissible in evidence whenever they refer to a matter into which the Court has to inquire, but shall not alone be sufficient evidence to charge any person with liability. 10. Any Government Gazette of any Country, Colony, or Dependency under the dominion of the British Crown, may be proved by the bare production thereof before the Court. 11. All Proclamations, Acts of State, whether Legislative or Executive, Nominations, Appointments and other Official Communications of the Government, appearing in any such Gazette, may be proved by the production of such Gazette, and shall be primâ facie proof of any fact of a public nature which they were intended to notify. 12. On matters of public history, literature, science or art, the Court may refer, if it shall think fit, for the purposes of evidence, to such published books, maps, or charts as the Court shall consider to be of authority on the subject to which they relate. 13. Books printed or published under the authority of the Government of a Foreign Country, and purporting to contain the Statutes, Code, or other Written Law of such Country, and also printed and published Books of Reports of Decisions of the Courts of such Country, and Books proved to be commonly admitted in such Courts as evidence of the Law of such Country, shall be admissible as evidence of the Law of such Foreign Country. 14. All maps made under the authority of any Government, or of any Public Municipal Body, and not made for the purpose of any litigated question, shall primâ facie be deemed to be correct, and shall be admitted in evidence without further proof. 15. Any person, whether a party or not, in a cause may be summoned to produce a document, without being summoned to give evidence, and if he cause such document to be produced in SCHEDULE I. Court, the Court may dispense with his personal attendance. 4. Affidavits. Ord. 6. giving Evidence. be filed. 16. Before an Affidavit is used in the Court for any purpose Affidavits to the Original shall be filed in the Court, and the Original or an Office Copy shall alone be recognised for any purpose in the Court. 17. Any Affidavit sworn before any Judge, Officer, or other Before whom person in the United Kingdom, or in any British Colony, Posses- Sworn. sion or Settlement authorised to take Affidavits, or before any Commissioner duly authorised by the Supreme Court to take Affidavits in the United Kingdom or Abroad, may be used in the Court in all cases where Affidavits are admissible. 18. Any Affidavit sworn in any Foreign parts out of Her Sworn in Majesty's Dominions before a Judge or Magistrate, being authen- Foreign parts. ticated by the Official Seal of the Court to which he is attached, or by a Public Notary, or before a British Minister, Consul, ViceConsul or Consular Agent, may be used in the Court in all cases where Affidavits are admissible. ture. 19. The fact that an Affidavit purports to have been sworn in Proof of Seal manner herein before prescribed, shall be prima facie evidence of and Signathe seal or signature, as the case may be, of any such Court, Judge, Magistrate or other Officer or person therein mentioned, appended or subscribed to any such Affidavit, and of the Authority of such Court, Judge, Magistrate, or other Officer or person to Administer Oaths. certain 20. An Affidavit shall not be admitted which is proved to have Not to be been sworn before a person on whose behalf the same is offered, or Sworn before before his Attorney, or before a Partner or Clerk of his Attorney. Persons. 21. The Court may permit an Affidavit to be used, notwith- Defective in standing it is defective in form according to these Rules, if the form. Court is satisfied that it has been sworn before a person duly authorised. and re-swear 22. A defective or erroneous Affidavit may be amended and Amendment re-sworn by leave of the Court, on such terms as to time, costs, or otherwise, as seem reasonable. ing. 23. Every Affidavit used in the Court shall contain only a Contents of statement of facts and circumstances to which the Witness deposes, Affidavits. either on his own personal knowledge or from information which he believes to be true. 24. It shall not contain extraneous matter, by way of objection No extraneous or prayer or legal argument or conclusion. 25. When a Witness deposes to his belief in any matter of fact, and his belief is derived from any source other than his own personal knowledge, he shall set forth explicitly the facts and circumstances forming the ground of his belief. matter. Grounds of belief to be stated. 26. When his belief is derived from information received from Informant another person, the name of his informant shall be stated, and be named. SCHEDULE I. reasonable particulars shall be given respecting the informant, and the time, place, and circumstances of the information. Ord. 6. Regulations in taking Affidavits. To be pro- Description of In First Erasures, &c., If improperly written. Witness to Form of Date and In presence Illiterate or Marksmen. Joint If Affidavit altered to be re-sworn. New Jurat. New 27. The following Regulations shall be observed by Commissioners and others before whom Affidavits are taken : (a) Every Affidavit taken in a cause or matter shall be headed in the Court and in the cause or matter. (b) It shall state the full name, trade or profession, residence, and nationality of the Witness. (c) It shall be in the first person, and divided into convenient paragraphs, numbered consecutively. (d) Any erasure, interlineation, or alteration made before the Affidavit is sworn, shall be attested by the Commissioner, who shall affix his signature or initials in the margin immediately opposite to the interlineation, alteration, or erasure. (e) Where an Affidavit proposed to be sworn is illegible or (g) The Jurat shall be written without interlineation, alteration, It shall state the date of the swearing and the place where it is sworn. It shall state that the Affidavit was sworn before the Commissioner or other Officer taking the same. Where the Witness is illiterate or blind it shall state the fact, and that the Affidavit was read over (or translated into his own language in the case of a Witness not having sufficient knowledge of English), and that the Witness appeared to understand it. Where the Witness makes a mark instead of signing, the Jurat shall state that fact, and that the mark was made in the presence of the Commissioner. Where two or more persons join in making an Affidavit their several names shall be written in the Jurat, and it shall appear by the Jurat that each of them has been sworn to the truth of the several matters stated by him in the Affidavit. (h) The Commissioner shall not allow an Affidavit, when sworn, (j) He may refuse to allow the Affidavit to be re-sworn, and |