Section 017 in The Commercial Documents Evidence Act, 1939
017.
Certain commercial documents of various kinds are by the practice of merchants accepted as evidance and taken as prima facie correct, but in a Court of law they cannot, in the absence of consent by the parties, be admitted in evidence without testimony as to their genuineness or the correctness of the statements made therein. Such documents are not admissible in evidence under Section 32 or any other provision of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, without further proof. The result is that a party desirous of delaying the proceedings can often insist on the other side getting Commissions issued to take evidence as to facts which are for all practical purposes sufficiently established by the documents in question. It is proposed to undertake legislation on the lines of the Bankers Books Evidence Act, 1891, so as to provide that commercial documents which are accepted as prima facie correct in commercial circles may be admitted in evidence without formal proof. A list of such documents has been prepared in consultation with Commercial Associations and Local Governments, and is included in the Schedule to the Bill, power being reserved to the Government of India to add to the list from time to time and to remove items from it.[26th September, 1939]An Act to amend the Law of Evidence with respect to certain commercial documents.Whereas it is expedient to amend the Law of Evidence with respect to certain commercial documents;It is hereby enacted as follows:
