Summary Offences Act 1981

Search, arrest, and jurisdiction

41: Charge alleging imitation of court documents

You could also call this:

"Faking court documents is against the law"

Illustration for Summary Offences Act 1981

If you are charged with an offence against section 18, the charge will be enough if it says you sent, delivered, printed, sold, or offered for sale a document that looks like a real court document. You can be charged if you did any of these things with a document that imitates judicial process. The charge does not need to say more than that.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM53734.

This page was last updated on 11 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law

40: Jurisdiction, or

"Which court deals with breaking the rules?"

42: Charge alleging false claim of qualifications, or

"Need permission to charge someone for lying about their qualifications"

41Charge alleging imitation of court documents

In any charge for an offence against section 18, it shall be sufficient to allege that the defendant sent, delivered, printed, sold, or offered for sale (as the case may require) a document in imitation of judicial process.

Compare

1927 No 35 s 20(4)

Notes

Section 41 heading: amended, on 1 July 2013, by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
Section 41: amended, on 1 July 2013, by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).