a person authorised to take affidavits under the laws of that country.a Commissioner of the High Court of New Zealand who has authority in that place.If an affidavit or affirmation is made outside New Zealand, then the affidavit or affirmation can be taken by: registrar/deputy registrar of a District Court or of the High Court. The following people are authorised to take oaths and affirmations on affidavits to be presented in the District Courts of New Zealand: Persons authorised to take affidavits and affirmations The oath or affirmation must be given in front of a person lawfully authorised to take oaths. Swearing and affirmingĪ document is not an affidavit until you have given an oath or affirmation verifying its contents. If the affidavit has more than one page, excluding the cover page, then you must initial every page except the page that has been signed. The court registrar will tell you if you need to file a second affidavit or if you can amend the initial affidavit by hand (in front of the person who took the affidavit – see below). If, after swearing an affidavit, you realise that it contains a mistake you should contact the court registrar. Mistakes in affidavits are not easily fixed and you will usually need to file another affidavit that corrects the initial affidavit. A document can be considered to be true and correct to the best of the author’s knowledge and belief if they have taken reasonable care to make sure that all the information contained in it is true, and there are no mistakes in the document. That person will then mark the exhibit with an exhibit note.īefore the document is sworn or affirmed you should check that you have included all the information you want to present as evidence, and that the information you have provided is ‘true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief’. The exhibit itself must be marked with the letter or number assigned to it in the affidavit (for example, the bank statement should be marked with an ‘A’).įor a document to be presented as an affidavit it must be sworn or affirmed by you in front of a person lawfully authorised to take oaths and declarations. If an affidavit refers to documents, then those documents must be attached and referred to as an exhibit (for example, ‘bank statement of plaintiff, dated 01/01/01, marked as EXHIBIT A’). If the affidavit includes unnecessary material, the court may refuse to read it and may order you to pay the costs caused by that affidavit. It must cover only matters that would be allowed if you were giving evidence at a trial and, if it is an affidavit in reply, it must be strictly in reply. It should be written in the first person (for example, ‘I saw…’, ‘he said to me…’), and must state the full name, job and home address of the person making it. The content of these affidavits must strictly reply to points raised by the defendant.Īn affidavit should contain all the written evidence that you want to present. The plaintiff will then, within a further 10 working days, file and serve the affidavits they want to present in reply.The defendant will then file and serve the affidavits they want to present within 10 working days after being served with the plaintiff’s affidavits.The plaintiff must file and serve the affidavits they want to present within 10 working days after an agreement to give evidence by affidavit was filed or, if the rules say that evidence can be given by affidavit, 10 working days after the date when pleadings closed.Generally the following procedure will be adopted when filing and serving affidavits: The rules for making affidavits are found in rules 9.58 to 9.79 of the District Court Rules (external link) Affidavit procedure The information below relates to the basic requirements of affidavits. Affidavits are used to present evidence in written form.Īn affidavit may be sworn (by taking an oath on a religious book) or affirmed (by making a statement that the contents are true, with no reference to religion). Affidavits – written statements of fact used as evidenceĪffidavits are documents that contain information said to be true by the person who swears or affirms the affidavit. The parties must make their closing submissions based on the evidence presented. They are not allowed to offer opinions about what decision should be made. When a person is giving evidence, they are allowed to make a statement of fact only. This can be done by a witness in person or by affidavit. This means the Judge relies on at least two parties presenting opposing submissions and, where appropriate, evidence.Įvidence is presented to the court when the parties do not agree on the facts relating to a proceeding. The New Zealand judicial system is adversarial. Examination of witnesses – spoken statements of fact.Affidavits – written statements of fact used as evidence.Evidence - statements of fact made to the court
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