Section 54Part 4 — Civil proceedings
Conclusiveness of evidence for purposes of defamation actions
←→ Navigate · Click subsection badges to collapse · Press ? for help
54. (1) In any action for libel or slander in which the question whether a person did or did not commit a criminal offence is relevant to an issue arising in the action, proof that, at the time when the issue falls to be determined, that person stands convicted of that offence is conclusive evidence that that person committed that offence; and that person’s conviction thereof is admissible in evidence accordingly.
In any action in which, by virtue of this section, a person is proved to have been convicted of an offence, the contents of any document which is admissible as evidence of the conviction, and the contents of the information, complaint, indictment or charge-sheet on which that person was convicted, is, without prejudice to the reception of other admissible evidence for the purpose of identifying the facts on which the conviction was based, admissible in evidence for the purpose of identifying those facts.
For the purposes of this section a person shall be taken to stand convicted of an offence if, but only if, there subsists against that person a conviction for that offence by a court in the Islands.
Section 52(4) and (5) applies for the purposes of any action begun after the 12th December, 1978, whenever the cause of action arose, but shall not apply for the Section 55 Evidence Act (2021 Revision) Page 54 Revised as at 31st December, 2020 c purposes of any action begun before the 12th December, 1978 or any appeal or other proceedings arising out of such action.