Oaths Act 1867 (Qld)

Oaths Act 1867

An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to oaths

Part 1    Preliminary

1A   Short title

This Act may be cited as the Oaths Act 1867.

1B   Definitions

In this Act—

accepted method—

1

Accepted method, for electronically signing an affidavit or a declaration, means—

(a)a method prescribed, or a method stated in a rule of court or practice direction made, given, issued or approved, under section 13A that is applicable to the affidavit or declaration; or

(b)if no method is prescribed, or no rule or practice direction is made, given, issued or approved, that applies to the affidavit or declaration—a method described in paragraph 2.

2

Accepted method, for electronically signing a document other than an affidavit or a declaration to which paragraph 1(a) applies, means a method that—

(a)identifies the signatory for the document and the signatory’s intention in relation to the contents of the document; and

(b)is either—

(i)as reliable as appropriate for the purpose for which the document is signed, having regard to all the circumstances, including any relevant agreement; or

(ii)proven in fact to have fulfilled the functions described in paragraph (a), by itself or together with further evidence.

3However, for paragraph 2, the term is subject to a regulation prescribing under section 13A a method that is not an accepted method for electronically signing an affidavit or a declaration.

administer—

(a)for part 4—see section 11; or

(b)for part 6A—see section 31B.

audio visual link means facilities that enable reasonably contemporaneous and continuous audio and visual communication between persons at different places and includes videoconferencing.

Australian legal practitioner see the Legal Profession Act 2007, section 6(1).

authorised person, in relation to a person’s oath or affirmation, means a person who is authorised by law to administer the person’s oath or affirmation.

commissioner for declarations see the Justices of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act 1991, section 3.

confirm, a document, means attest or otherwise confirm a document by signing the document.

copy, of an electronic document, for part 6A, see section 31B.

counterpart, for a document, means a copy of the document that includes the entire contents of the document but does not include the signatures of all the other persons who are to sign the document.

court of justice includes a person authorised to administer oaths to witnesses.

direct, in relation to a document, includes instruct.

document ...

electronically sign, a document, means sign the document using an accepted method.

electronic document ...

information includes information in the form of data, text or images.

make, in relation to a document—

(a)for part 4—see section 11; or

(b)for part 6A—see section 31B.

official version, of a document, for part 6A, see section 31B.

original physical version, of a document, for part 6A, see section 31B.

physical document means a document other than an electronic document.

presiding…