Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 49 Part 1.djvu/1607

 15 62 14TH C ONGRESS. SESS. II. CH. 640 . JUNE 20, 1936. said act, transaction, occurrence, or event, if it shall appear that it was made in the regular course of any business, and that it was the regular course of such business to make such memorandum or record at the time of such act, transaction, occurrence, or event or within a 'Lack of pers onal reasonable time thereafter. All other circumstances of the making knowledge by entrant g not to affect admissi- of such writi ng or reco rd, i nclud ing l ack o f per sonal know ledge by bility. the entrant or maker, may be shown to affect its weight, but they B .iness" con- shall not affect its admissibility . The term "business" shall include business, profession, occupation, and calling of every kind . Certified foreign doc- u ments . SEC. 2 . Any book, pa per, statement, record, account, writing, or . other document, or any portion thereof, of whatever character and in whatever form, as well as any copy thereof equally with the original, which is not in the United States (hereinafter referred to as a foreign document) shall, when duly certified as hereinafter pr ovide d, be admi ssibl e in evide nce i n any crim inal actio n or pro- ceeding in any court of the United States if the court shall find, fro m all the testi mony taken with resp ect t o suc h for eign docum ent pursuant to a commis sion executed under the provisions of this Act, that such document (or the original thereof in case such document is a copy) satisfies the requirements of section 1 of this Act, unless in the event that the genuineness of such document is denied, an party to such criminal action or proceeding making such denial sh establish to the satisfaction of the court that such document is not Authentications. genuine. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to require authentication under the provisions of this Act of any foreign docu- ments which may otherwise be properly authenticated by law. Testimony of witness SF.a. 3 . (a) The testimony of any witness in a foreign country may in foreign c ountry. b e taken either on oral or written interrogatories, or on interroga- tories partly oral and partly written, pursuant to a commission issued, as hereinafter provi ded, for the purpose of determining whether any fo reign docu ments soug ht to be u sed i n any crim inal actio n or pro- ceeding in any court of the United States are genuine, and whether the requirements of section 1 of this Act are satisfied with respect to any such document (or the original thereof in case such docu- Appl icatio n for i ssu- ment is a copy). Application for the issuance of a commission for ante of co mmiss ion. suc h purpose may be m ade to t he court in which such act ion or pro ceeding i s pending by the United St ates or any other party thereto, after five days' notice in writing by the applicant party, or his attor ney, to th e opp osite part y, or his attor ney o f rec ord, which notice shall s tate the names and addresses of witnesses whose testimony is to be taken and the time when it is desired to take such testimony. In granting such application the court shall issue a commission for the purpose of taking the testimony sought by the applicant, addressed to any consular officer of the United States Foreign counsel • conveniently located for the purpose. In cases of testimony taken on oral or partly oral interrogatories, the court shall make provisions in the commission for the selection as hereinafter provided of foreign counsel to represent each party (except the United States) to the criminal action or proceeding in which the foreign documents in question are to be used, unless such party has, prior to the issuance of the commi ssion, not ified the court that he d oes n ot de sire the selection of foreign counsel to represent him at the time of taking of such testimony. In cases of testimony taken on written interrog- at ories, suc h pro visio n sha ll be made only upon the reque st of any such party prior to the issuance of such only Selection of foreign counsel shal l be made by the party whom such foreign coun- sel is to represent within ten days prior to the taking of testimony or by the court from which the commission issued, upon the request of such party made within such time.