Law of Evidence

LECTURE VI

‘FACTS ADMITTED NEED NOT BE PROVED’

&
‘PRESUMPTIONS AS TO DOCUMENTS’
 Overview of the Lecture
• Recapitulation of connected legal provisions
• Facts Admitted need not be proved (S.58) [Connected to Lecture I
(where judicially noticeable facts were discussed)]
• Presumptions as to Documents (Section 79 to 90A)
Overview of the Scheme of the Act-Page 1
Overview of the Scheme of the Act-Page 2
Overview of the Scheme of the Act-Page 3
Overview of the Scheme of the Act-Page 4
 Part I (Relevancy of Facts) Chapter II (Of the
Relevancy of Facts)

Facts Admitted need not be Proved

• Section 58

Presumptions as to Documents

• Section 79-90A
 Facts Admitted need not be Proved
(Sections 58)

Scope of Section 58
• Purpose/Effect of the Section
• The effect of the Section is to shorten
the litigation
• It also acts as an estoppel to forestall
any other evidence contradicting them
• Includes statements made before or
during the trial
• Admissions may be either express (in
writing) or implied (leads to a necessary
inference of admission from the
statements)
Section 58
58 Facts admitted need not be proved. —No fact need to be
proved in any proceeding which the parties thereto or their
agents agree to admit at the hearing, or which, before the
hearing, they agree to admit by any writing under their
hands, or which by any rule of pleading in force at the time
they are deemed to have admitted by their pleadings:
Provided that the Court may, in its discretion, require the
facts admitted to be proved otherwise than by such
admissions.
 Facts Admitted need not be Proved
(Sections 58)

Scope of Section 58
• Express admissions Section 58

• Pleadings drawn up with an
assistance of a counsel
• Pleadings are prepared in
contemplation of a particular
litigation
• Admissions in pleadings are
conclusive (unlike evidence received
at the trial which can be contradicted)
• Section 58 is also a rule of procedure
(mirroring provisions existing in the
CPC as well concerning ‘Pleadings’)
58 Facts admitted need not be proved. —No fact need to be
proved in any proceeding which the parties thereto or their
agents agree to admit at the hearing, or which, before the
hearing, they agree to admit by any writing under their
hands, or which by any rule of pleading in force at the time
they are deemed to have admitted by their pleadings:
Provided that the Court may, in its discretion, require the
facts admitted to be proved otherwise than by such
admissions.
 Facts Admitted need not be Proved
(Sections 58)

Scope of Section 58
• Implied Admissions by non-
traversal of pleadings
• If the pleadings of the opposite
party are not denied
specifically, it will be deemed to
be admitted by non-traverse
• Admission by a counsel
• Counsel is an agent
• In criminal case, counsel has no
authority to make an admission
Section 58
58 Facts admitted need not be proved. —No fact need to be
proved in any proceeding which the parties thereto or their
agents agree to admit at the hearing, or which, before the
hearing, they agree to admit by any writing under their
hands, or which by any rule of pleading in force at the time
they are deemed to have admitted by their pleadings:
Provided that the Court may, in its discretion, require the
facts admitted to be proved otherwise than by such
admissions.
 Facts Admitted need not be Proved
(Sections 58)

Scope of Section 58
• Best piece of evidence that can be relied upon
• Admission needs to be clear and
unambiguous.
• {proviso} In case court deems necessary, it
may call for further evidence
• Cases of fraud or where they are
apparently erroneous.
• Party objecting to the admissibility of a
document must raise it at the appropriate
time
• Once marked/exhibited, cannot be
allowed to object
Section 58
58 Facts admitted need not be proved. —No fact need to be
proved in any proceeding which the parties thereto or their
agents agree to admit at the hearing, or which, before the
hearing, they agree to admit by any writing under their
hands, or which by any rule of pleading in force at the time
they are deemed to have admitted by their pleadings:
Provided that the Court may, in its discretion, require the
facts admitted to be proved otherwise than by such
admissions.
 Facts Admitted need not be Proved
(Sections 58)

Scope of Section 58
Section 31
• Admission made in earlier suit,
also admissible in later suit 31. Admissions not conclusive proof, but may estop.—

Admissions are not conclusive proof of the matters

• Related provisions admitted, but they may operate as estoppels under the
provisions hereinafter contained.
• Section 31
• Unlike Section 58, applicable Section 17
only during the trial
17. Admission defined.—
• Section 17
An admission is a statement, oral or documentary or
• Admission Defined contained in electronic form, which suggests any inference
as to any fact in issue or relevant fact, and which is made
by any of the persons, and under the circumstances,
hereinafter mentioned.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)

Scope of Sections 79-90

• Deals with two kinds of presumptions i.e. obligatory and permissive

• Obligatory presumptions are contained in Sections 79-85 and Section 89

• Court is bound to take the fact as proved until evidence is given to
disprove it
• Hence, court shall presume a certain fact in regard to a document

• Permissive presumptions are contained in Sections 86-88 and 90

• Court may consider the facts as proved until the contrary is shown
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)

Scope of Sections 79-90

• Connected Section: Section 4

• 4. “May presume”.—Whenever it is provided by this Act that the Court may

presume a fact, it may either regard such fact as proved, unless and until it is
disproved, or may call for proof of it.

• “Shall presume”.—Whenever it is directed by this Act that the Court shall presume
a fact, it shall regard such fact as proved, unless and until it is disproved.

• “Conclusive proof”.—When one fact is declared by this Act to be conclusive proof of

another, the Court shall, on proof of the one fact, regard the other as proved, and
shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Scope of Sections 79
• Section gives statutory presumption
with regard to genuineness of certified
copies
• It also provides that all acts presumed to
be rightly done
• Certified copy can thus be provided in
proof of the original
Section 79
79. Presumption as to genuineness of certified
copies.—The Court shall presume 1[to be
genuine] every document purporting to be a
certificate, certified copy, or other document,
which is by law declared to be admissible as
evidence of any particular fact and which
purports to be duly certified by any officer 2[of
the Central Government or of a State
Government, or by any officer 3[in the State of
Jammu and Kashmir] who is duly authorized
thereto by the Central Government]:
Provided that such document is substantially in
the form and purports to be executed in the
manner directed by law in that behalf. The Court
shall also presume that any officer by whom any
such document purports to be signed or certified
held, when he signed it, the official character
which he claims in such paper.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Scope of Sections 80
• Three presumptions
• Document is genuine
• Any statement as to circumstances under
which it was taken purporting to be made by
the person signing it is true
• The depositions or statement of confession
were duly taken
• Evidence must be given during judicial
proceedings
• Police investigation is not a judicial
proceeding
Section 80
Whenever any document is produced before any
Court, purporting to be a record or memorandum
of the evidence, or of any part of the evidence,
given by a witness in a judicial proceeding or
before any officer authorized by law to take such
evidence, or to be a statement or confession by
any prisoner or accused person, taken in
accordance with law, and purporting to be signed
by any Judge or Magistrate, or by any such
officer as aforesaid, the Court shall presume—
that the document is genuine; that any statements
as to the circumstances under which it was taken,
purporting to be made by the person signing it,
are true, and that such evidence, statement or
confession was duly taken.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Scope of Sections 81
• Gazette is an official record and its
genuineness is presumed unless rebutted
• Newspaper is not proof as to the facts and
is merely hearsay unless the make of the
statement deposes in court
• Presumption is only attached to the
genuineness of the newspaper alone
• Section 81-A extends presumption to
Gazettes in electronic form
Section 81
Presumption as to Gazettes, newspapers, private
Acts of Parliament and other documents.—The
Court shall presume the genuineness of every
document purporting to be the London Gazette,
or 1[any Official Gazette, or the Government
Gazette] of any colony, dependency of possession
of the British Crown, or to be a newspaper or
journal, or to be a copy of a private Act of
Parliament 2[of the United Kingdom] printed by
the Queen’s Printer, and of every document
purporting to be a document directed by any law
to be kept by any person, if such document is kept
substantially in the form required by law and is
produced from proper custody.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Sections 82
• Presumption as to document admissible in England
without proof of seal or signature.—When any
document is produced before any Court, purporting to
be a document which, by the law in force for the time
being in England or Ireland, would be admissible in
proof of any particular in any Court of Justice in
England or Ireland, without proof of the seal or stamp
or signature authenticating it, or of the judicial or
official character claimed by the person by whom it
purports to be signed, the Court shall presume that
such seal, stamp or signature is genuine, and that the
person signing it held, at the time when he signed it,
the judicial or official character which he claims, and
the document shall be admissible for the same purpose
for which it would be admissible in England or Ireland.
Section 83
83. Presumption as to maps or plans made by
authority of Government.—The Court shall
presume that maps or plans purporting to be made
by the authority of 1[the Central Government or
any State Government] were so made, and are
accurate; but maps or plans made for the purposes
of any cause must be proved to be accurate.—The
Court shall presume that maps or plans purporting
to be made by the authority of 4[the Central
Government or any State Government] were so
made, and are accurate; but maps or plans made
for the purposes of any cause must be proved to
be accurate.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Section 85
Sections 84
85. Presumption as to powers-of-attorney.—

Presumption as to collections of laws and The Court shall presume that every document
reports of decisions.— purporting to be a power-of-attorney, and to have
been executed before, and authenticated by, a
Notary Public, or any Court, Judge, Magistrate,
The Court shall presume the genuineness 1[Indian] Consul or Vice-Consul, or
of every book purporting to be printed or representative of the 3[Central Government], was
so executed and authenticated.
published under the authority of the
Government of any country, and to contain
any of the laws of that country, and of every
book purporting to contain reports of
decisions of the Courts of such country.
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Sections 84
Presumption as to collections of laws and
reports of decisions.—
The Court shall presume the genuineness
of every book purporting to be printed or
published under the authority of the
Government of any country, and to contain
any of the laws of that country, and of every
book purporting to contain reports of
decisions of the Courts of such country.
Section 85
85. Presumption as to powers-of-attorney.—
The Court shall presume that every document
purporting to be a power-of-attorney, and to have
been executed before, and authenticated by, a
Notary Public, or any Court, Judge, Magistrate,
1[Indian] Consul or Vice-Consul, or
representative of the 3[Central Government], was
so executed and authenticated.
Sections 85A to 86: Extend provisions
concerning the above to their
respective electronic versions as well
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Section 85C
Sections 85B
Presumption as to electronic records and 6 [electronic Presumption as to 86 [Electronic Signature
signatures]. — Certificates]. —

(1) In any proceedings involving a secure electronic record, the The Court shall presume, unless contrary is
Court shall presume unless contrary is proved, that the secure proved, that the information listed in
electronic record has not been altered since the specific point of a 86 [Electronic Signature Certificate] is correct,
time to which the secure status relates. except for information specified as subscriber
(2) In any proceedings, involving secure [electronic signature], information which has not been verfied, if the
the Court shall presume unless the contrary is proved that—(a) certificate was accepted by the subscriber.]
 the secure [electronic signature] is affixed by subscriber with the
intention of signing or approving the electronic record;
(b) except in the case of a secure electronic record or a secure
[electronic signature], nothing in this section shall cerate any
presumption, relating to authenticity and integrity of the
electronic record or any [electronic signature.]]
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Section 87
Sections 86
Presumption as to certified copies of foreign judicial records.— Presumption as to books, maps and charts.—

The Court may presume that any document purporting to be a certified The Court may presume that any book to which it
copy of any judicial record of 1[2[***] any country not forming part may refer for information on matters of public or
of India] or of Her Majesty’s dominions is genuine and accurate, if the general interest, and that any published map or
document purports to be certified in any manner which is certified by
chart, the statements of which are relevant facts
any representative of 3[***] the 4[Central Government] 5[in or for]
6[such country] to be the manner commonly in use in 7[that country] and which is produced for its inspection, was
for the certification of copies of judicial records. 8[An officer who, written and published by the person and at the
with respect to 9[***] any territory or place not forming part of time and place, by whom or at which it purports
10[India or] Her Majesty’s dominions, is a Political Agent therefore, as to have been written or published.
defined in section 3, 11[clause (43)], of the General Clauses Act, 1897
(10 of 1897), shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a
representative of the 12[Central Government] 13[in and for the
country] comprising that territory or place].signature.]]
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Section 88
Sections 88A
Presumption as to electronic messages.—The Court may Presumption as to telegraphic messages.—The
presume that an electronic message, forwarded by the Court may presume that a message, forwarded
originator through an electronic mail server to the from a telegraph office to the person to whom
such message purports to be addressed,
addressee to whom the message purports to be addressed corresponds with a message delivered for
corresponds with the message as fed into his computer transmission at the office from which the message
for transmission; but the Court shall not make any purports to be sent; but the Court shall not make
presumption as to the person by whom such message any presumption as to the person by whom such
was sent." Explanation.—For the purposes of this message was delivered for transmission.
section, the expressions “addressee” and “originator”
shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to
them in clauses (b) and (za) of sub-section(1) of section
2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.]
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)
Section 89
Sections 90
Presumption as to documents thirty years old.— Presumption as to due execution, etc., of
documents not produced.—
Where any document, purporting or proved to be thirty years old, is
produced from any custody which the Court in the particular case The Court shall presume that every document,
considers proper, the Court may presume that the signature and every
called for and not produced after notice to
other part of such document, which purports to be in the handwriting of
any particular person, is in that person’s handwriting, and, in the case of produce, was attested, stamped and executed in
a document executed or attested, that it was duly executed and attested the manner required by law.
by the persons by whom it purports to be executed and attested.

Explanation.—Documents are said to be in proper custody if they are in

the place in which, and under the care of the person with whom, they
would naturally be; but no custody is improper if it is proved to have
had a legitimate origin, or if the circumstances of the particular case are
such as to render such an origin probable. This Explanation applies also
to section 81
 Presumptions as to Documents
(Sections 79-90)

Sections 90A
[ 90A Presumption as to electronic records five years old. —

Where any electronic record, purporting or proved to be five

years old, is produced from any custody which the Court in the
particular case considers proper, the Court may presume that
the 98 [electronic signature] which purports to be the 98 [electronic
signature] of any particular person was so affixed by him or any
person authorised by him in this behalf. Explanation. —
Electronic records are said to be in proper custody if they are in
the place in which, and under the care of the person with whom,
they naturally be; but no custody is improper if it is proved to
have had a legitimate origin, or the circumstances of the
particular case are such as to render such an origin probable.
This Explanation applies also to section 81A.