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Evidence Act 2006

Trial process - Documentary evidence and evidence produced by machine, device, or technical process - Special rules applying where no requirement for legalisation of foreign public document

145: Interpretation

You could also call this:

"What special words mean when dealing with documents from other countries"

Illustration for Evidence Act 2006

When you are dealing with documents from other countries, you need to know what some words mean. A Convention is the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, which was done at the Hague on 5 October 1961. You can read more about this in sections 146 and 147.

A Convention certificate is a special certificate that is issued for a foreign public document by the authority of the country where the document comes from. A foreign public document is a public document that you need to show in New Zealand and was made in another country that has agreed to the Convention.

Legalisation is when New Zealand's diplomatic or consular agents check that a public document from another country is real. They check the signature on the document, the person's role when they signed it, and the stamp or seal on the document.

A New Zealand authority is anyone in New Zealand who needs to see a foreign public document, like a court or a person making decisions under New Zealand law. A public document can be many things, such as a document from a court, an administrative document, or a notarial act, but it does not include documents made by diplomatic or consular agents.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM393989.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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144: Evidence of foreign law, or

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

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146: Foreign public documents: certificates as to contracting States under Convention, or

"Proof that a country follows certain rules under a Convention"

Part 3Trial process
Documentary evidence and evidence produced by machine, device, or technical process: Special rules applying where no requirement for legalisation of foreign public document

145Interpretation

  1. In this section and sections 146 and 147,—

    Convention means the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, done at the Hague on 5 October 1961

      Convention certificate means a certificate issued under the Convention in relation to a foreign public document by the competent authority of the State from which the foreign public document emanates

        foreign public document means a public document that—

        1. has to be produced in New Zealand; and
          1. was executed in a foreign country that—
            1. is a contracting State under the Convention; and
              1. did not raise an objection to New Zealand’s accession to the Convention

              legalisation means the formality by which New Zealand’s diplomatic or consular agents certify, in relation to a public document that has to be produced in New Zealand and that was executed in a foreign country,—

              1. the authenticity of the signature on the public document; and
                1. the capacity in which the person signing the public document has acted; and
                  1. where appropriate, the identity of the stamp or seal that the public document bears

                    New Zealand authority means any person in New Zealand (including any court, any person acting judicially, and any person exercising a power or performing a function under a New Zealand law) to whom a foreign public document has to be produced

                      public document—

                      1. includes any of the following documents:
                        1. a document emanating from an authority or from an official connected with the courts or tribunals of a State, including a document emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk of a court, or a process server; and
                          1. an administrative document (other than an administrative document dealing directly with commercial or customs operations); and
                            1. a notarial act; and
                              1. an official certificate that is placed on a document signed by a person in the person’s private capacity (for example, an official certificate recording the registration of a document or the fact that the document was in existence on a certain date, or an official or notarial authentication of a signature); but
                              2. does not include a document executed by a diplomatic or consular agent.

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