Bill 67 (Legislature 14, Session 1)

L14 S1 5957

Alberta — Bills

No. 67 1st Session, 14th Legislature, Alberta 8 Elizabeth II BILL 67 A Bill to Authorize the Use of Sound Recording Machines in Recording Evidence Given Before Courts HON. MR. MANNING Printed by L. S. WALL, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, Edmonton, Alberta, ] 960

Explanatory Note By

section 24 of the Statutes of Canada, 1959, the Criminal Code was amended to permit the evidence ·on the trial of an accused for an indictable offence to be taken in a province where a sound recording apparatus is authorized by or under provincial legis lation for use in civil cases, by the type of apparatus so authorized and in accordance with the requirements of the provincial legis lation (section 555(b) .of Criminal Code as amended). At the present time Alberta has no such legislation. This Act will authorize the use of voice or sound recording machines in court-rooms to record the evidence given.

At present the evidence given in courts is taken down in shorthand by official court reporters. This Act is intended primarily to provide for the recording of evidence given in Magistrate's Courts where trained reporters are not always available. 2.

Interpretation. 3. The taking of evidence by sound-recording machines may be authorized by the Attorney General.

BILL No. 67 of 1960

An Act to Authorize the Use of Sound Recording Machines in Recording Evidence Given Before Courts (Assented to , 1960) HER MAJ1pSTY, by and with the advice and consent of the LegIslatIve Assembly of the Province of Alberta, enacts as follows: 1. This Act may be cited as "The Mechanical Recording of Evidence Act". 2.

In this Act, (a) "court" means the Supreme Court or the district court or family court or the court of a magistrate, justice of the peace or coroner, or the hearings presided over by a clerk of the court, sheriff, reg istrar, commissioner, board, arbitrator, referee or other person appointed by law or by order of a court or otherwise, to hear any witnesses or take any evidence, or to make any order, decree, finding, decision or report, or to exercise any judicial or quasi-judicial function; (b) "evidence" includes judgments, decisions, opinions, speeches, reports and all other matters done or said by or before any court, including matters relating to procedure; (c) "judge" includes any person lawfully presiding in a court; (d) "record" means a record made in accordance with

section 3; (e) "reporter" means an official court reporter ap ,pointed in accordance with the Consolidated Rules of the Supreme Court, or a stenographer or typist; (/) "sound-recording machine" means any device, machine or system, of a type approved by the At torney General, that faithfully records speech or other sounds in some permanent form or in a form capable of being transcribed after a period of two years or more. 3.

(1) The Attorney General may by order direct that the evidence or any part of the evidence given before a court in a civil action or in an action under The

Summary Convictions Act, be recorded by means of a sound-recording machine.

2 4. Certification of record and evidential nature of certificate. 5. A typewritten copy of recorded evidence is to be treated in the same manner as a copy of evidence taken down in shorthand. 8. The records may be played in a court. 7. Records to be filed with the Clerk of the Court. 8.

(1) Destruction of record after two years upon order of the court.

(2) Who m'ay apply for the order.

(3) Order may be of general application.

2 (2) ~n order under subsection (1) may be of general applIcatIon or may relate to a specific court or to specific sittings of a court or may be otherwise limited. 4. ( 1 ) A record shall be certified, by the judge or by the court official in charge of the sound-recording machine during the proceeding, as being the record made of the evidence or part thereof, as the case may be, in the pro ceeding.

(2) A certificate made under this

section is without proof of the signature of the judge or, where made by the person in charge of the sound-recording machine, without proof of his signature or official character, admissible in evidence as prima facie proof that the record is the record of the evidence, or part thereof, as the case may be, in the proceeding. 5. A typewritten copy of the whole or any part of the contents of a record, (

a) reduced to writing by a reporter, and (

b) certified by the reporter to be a true and faithful transcript of the contents of the record, is admissible in evidence by any court to the same extent and with the same effect as a transcript of shorthand notes prepared by a reporter pursuant to the Consolidated Rules of the Supreme Court. 6. The sounds recorded upon a record may be repro duced in a court by any appropriate machine or device and the reproduction shall be received by the court to the same extent and with the s'ame effect as a typewritten copy pre pared pursuant to

section 5. 7. All records shall be filed in the office of the official having custody of the records of the court and shall not be removed except as required by

an Act or a rule of court or upon the order of a judge of the court or a judge of the Supreme Court or the district court. 8.

(1) Any time after two years from the making of a record, the judge who presided at the making of the record or a judge of the Supreme Court may order the record destroyed or the recording thereon erased, cancelled or otherwise destroyed.

(2) An order under subsection (1) may be made without notice to any person, and on the application of any party or of the Attorney General, but the order shall not be made if it appears that the recording is likely to be there after required for any purpose.

(3) An order under subsection (1) may be a general order to apply to all or any records made before a date set out in the order.

3 9. Power to make regulations.

3 9. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make such regulations as he deems necessary or advisable for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act and of supplying any deficiency therein. 10. This Act comes into force on the day upon which it is assented to.

No. 67 FIRST SESSION FOURTEENTH LEGISLA YURE 8 ELIZABETH II 1960 BILL

An Act to Authorize the Use of Sound Recording Machines in Re. cording Evidence Given Before Courts Recei ved and read the First time ............. .. Second time ... Third time ......... HON. MR. MANNING Title: 1960 (14th, 1st) Bill 67,

An Act to Authorize the Use of Sound Recording Machines in Recording Evidence Given Before Courts

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Bills
Citation	L14 S1 5957
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	L14 S1 5957
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	c4ad4cec8de9af22fe890ccde280abb8967e1fe3

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