Evidence Act 2006
The Evidence Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of New Zealand that codifies the laws of evidence. When enacted, the Act drew together the common law and statutory provisions relating to evidence into one comprehensive scheme, replacing most of the previous evidence law on the admissibility and use of evidence in court proceedings. The foundations of the Act started in August 1989, when the Law Commission started work on reviewing the nation's piecemeal evidence laws. A decade of work culminated in August 1999 with the Commission producing a draft Evidence Code on which the Evidence Act is based. The Evidence Bill was introduced in May 2006 and passed its third and final reading on 23 November 2006. The majority of the Act came into force on 1 August 2007. Structure Part 1 — Preliminary provisions (s 6-15) Part 2 — Admissibility rules, privilege, and confidentiality Subpart 1 — Hearsay evidence (s 16-22A) Subpart 2 — Statements of opinion and expert evidence (s 23-26) Subpart 3 — Defendants’ statements, improperly obtained evidence, silence of parties in proceedings, and admissions in civil proceedings (s 27-34) Subpart 4 — Previous consistent statements made by witness (s 35) Subpart 5 — Veracity and propensity (s 36-44A) Subpart 6 — Identification evidence (s 45-46A) Subpart 7 — Evidence of convictions and civil judgments (s 47-50) Subpart 8 — Privilege and confidentiality (s 51-70) Part 3 — Trial process Subpart 1 — Eligibility and compellability (s 71-76) Subpart 2 — Oaths and affirmations (s 77-78) Subpart 3 — Support, communication assistance, and views (s 79-82) Subpart 4 — Questioning of witnesses (s 83-101) Subpart 5 — Alternative ways of giving evidence (s 102-120) Subpart 6 — Corroboration, judicial directions, and judicial warnings (s 121-127) Subpart 7 — Notice of uncontroverted facts and reference to reliable public documents (s 128-129) Subpart 8 — Documentary evidence and evidence produced by machine, device, or technical process (s 130-149) Part 4 — Evidence from overseas or to be used overseas Subpart 1 — Proceedings in Australia and New Zealand (s 150-181) Subpart 2 — Evidence for use in civil proceedings overseas and evidence for use in civil proceedings in High Court (s 182-189) Subpart 3 — Evidence for use in overseas criminal proceedings (s 190-198) Subpart 4 — Rules and regulations (s 199-200) Part 5 — Miscellaneous (s 201-216) Legislative features Sections 1 and 2 relate to the title and commencement of the Act respectively. Preliminary provisions Section 3 provides the Act binds the Crown. Section 4 defines terms used in the Act. Section 5 deals with the application of the Act. If there is an inconsistency between the Act and any other enactment, the other enactment prevails. However, if there is an inconsistency between the Act and the High Court Rules or the District Court Rules, the Act prevails. Section 6 sets out the purpose of the Act. Section 7 of the Bill deals with the principle of relevance. The general rule is that, unless otherwise provided,