Evidence Act 2006

Trial process - Documentary evidence and evidence produced by machine, device, or technical process - General and special rules

143: Presumptions as to New Zealand and foreign official seals and signatures

You could also call this:

"Assuming official documents are real unless proven otherwise"

When you see a document with a seal on it, you might wonder if it is real. The law says that if a document has a seal that looks like the Seal of New Zealand, or a seal from a foreign country, it is presumed to be real. The law also applies to seals from people or groups who have a public role.

If a document has a seal on it, the law says it is likely to be genuine, unless someone can prove it is not. You can also assume that a document was sealed correctly, unless someone can show that it was not. This rule helps make sure that documents are treated as genuine, unless there is a good reason to think they are not.

When you see a document that says it was signed by someone in a public role, you can assume it was signed by that person. This is because the law says that a signature on a document is presumed to be real, unless someone can prove it is not. This helps make sure that documents are treated as genuine, and that people can trust the signatures on them.

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This page was last updated on 29 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM393986.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal help

142: Notification of acts in official documents, or

"Notices of important actions are official if they are in government documents or gazettes"

144: Evidence of foreign law, or

"Proving a law from another country is real in a New Zealand court"

Part 3Trial process
Documentary evidence and evidence produced by machine, device, or technical process: General and special rules

143Presumptions as to New Zealand and foreign official seals and signatures

Subsection (4) applies to the imprint of a seal that appears on a document and purports to be the imprint of the Seal of New Zealand, or the former Public Seal of New Zealand, or 1 of the seals of the United Kingdom on a document relating to New Zealand, or the seal of a foreign country.
Subsection (4) applies to the imprint of a seal that appears on a document and purports to be the imprint of the seal of a body (including a court or tribunal) exercising a function of a public nature under the law of New Zealand or the law of a foreign country.
Subsection (4) applies to the imprint of a seal that appears on a document and purports to be the imprint of the seal of a person holding a public office or exercising a function of a public nature under the law of New Zealand or the law of a foreign country.
If this subsection applies to the imprint of a seal that appears on a document, the imprint is presumed, unless the Judge decides otherwise, to be the imprint of that seal and the document is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been sealed as it purports to have been sealed.
A document that purports to have been signed by a person as the holder of a public office or in the exercise of a function of a public nature under the law of New Zealand, or the law of a foreign country, is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been signed by that person acting in an official capacity.