HC Deb 16 June 1938 vol 337 cc501-2

After Sub-section (2) of Section twenty of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act, 1933 (which Section relates to admissions by parties in trials on indictment) the following Sub-section shall be added: (3) Any reference in this Section to proof or admission of a document shall include a reference to proof or admission as to the person by whom a document was written, executed or received, and as to the time and place of such writing, execution, or receipt."—[The Lord Advocate.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

The Lord Advocate

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

With your permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like, in dealing with this new Clause, to refer to an Amendment in my name on the Paper later to leave out Clause 9, as this new Clause is associated with the proposal to leave out Clause 9. Hon. Members will recall that Clause 9 of the Bill contains a proposal that admissions of fact should be competent in prosecutions on indictment. In the Second Reading Debate, and subsequently in the Committee stage, considerable anxiety was expressed from many quarters as to the sufficiency of the safeguards which should be added to the introduction of that admitted novelty in procedure, and I undertook to examine very closely various proposals and suggestions that were made. Having done so, I tell the House frankly that I have found it impossible to devise safeguards satisfactory to me which it would be possible for me to recommend to the House. Therefore, I have adopted the course of putting down an Amendment to leave out Clause 9. At the same time, however, one of the reasons for including Clause 9 in the Bill arose from the fact that the present provisions of Section 20 of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act, 1933, which relates to admissions of documents as distinct from admissions of fact has proved inoperative, as the drafting was too narrow. Therefore, as part of the alternative proposal to Clause 9, I ask the House to approve of an Amendment of the terms of Section 20 of the 1933 Act to the limited extent of expanding those words "admit a document." The words which I propose are: (3) Any reference in this Section to proof or admission of a document shall include a reference to proof or admission as to the person by whom a document was written, executed, or received, and as to the time and place of such writing, execution, or receipt. Those are the facts in relation to a document without which an admission of the document would be useless. Those are the facts which it is common practice in Scotland to admit in civil cases nearly every time a civil case takes place. With that slight alteration, I think that Section 20 of the Administration of Justice Act will achieve some saving of time and expense in the conduct of trials, and as the wider proposal regarding admissions of fact is out of the way, I think that limited improvement in the existing law is one which can be strongly recommended to the House.

Mr. Westwood

This new Clause is in fulfilment of a pledge that was given in Committee, and hon. Members on this side raise no objection to it, since it is an improvement.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.