OATHS, AFFIRMATIONS AND DECLARATIONS

CHAPTER 4:07
OATHS, AFFIRMATIONS AND DECLARATIONS

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

    SECTION

PART I
PRELIMINARY

    1.    Short title

PART II
OATHS AND AFFIRMATIONS

    2.    Persons by whom oaths and affirmations must be made

    3.    Authority to administer oaths and affirmations

    4.    Commissioners for oaths, etc.

    5.    Penalty for holding self out as commissioner for oaths without entitlement and suspension from practising

    6.    How oaths and affirmations may be administered

    7.    Effect of irregularities

    8.    Rules relating to duties of commissioners for oaths

PART III
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS

    9.    Statutory declarations

PART IV
MISCELLANEOUS

    10.    Jurat, etc. to state where and when oath, etc., taken

    11.    Savings

        First Schedule

        Second Schedule

        Third Schedule

        Fourth Schedule

        Fifth Schedule

45 of 1967
G.N. 142/1976

    An Act relating to Oaths, Affirmations and Declarations and Matters Incidental thereto

PART I
PRELIMINARY

1.    Short title

    This Act may be cited as the Oaths, Affirmations and Declarations Act.

PART II
OATHS AND AFFIRMATIONS

2.    Persons by whom oaths and affirmations must be made

    (1) Oaths and affirmations shall be made for the purposes of judicial proceedings by—

    (a)    all persons who may lawfully be examined, or give, or be required to give, evidence by or before any court or person having by law or consent of parties authority to examine such persons or receive evidence;

    (b)    interpreters of questions put to and evidence given by such persons;

    (c)    assessors.

    (2) Oaths and affirmations by interpreters and assessors shall be made in the same manner as that prescribed by section 6 in the case of witnesses.

3.    Authority to administer oaths and affirmations

    (1) Courts and persons having by law or consent of parties authority to examine witnesses or receive evidence are authorized to administer by themselves or by an officer empowered by them in that behalf, oaths and affirmations in discharge of their duties, or in exercise of the powers imposed or conferred upon them respectively by law.

    (2) A commissioner for oaths may either in Malawi or beyond it administer any oath or affirmation or take any affidavit for the purpose of any judicial or other proceeding in Malawi.

4.    Commissioners for oaths, etc.

    (1) The following persons shall be commissioners for oaths—

    (a)    legal practitioners for the time being holding a licence to practice as such under the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act:

    (b)    magistrates;

    (c)    other public officers for the time being holding or acting in a public office of one of the following grades, that is to say, Professional Officer or Administrative Officer;

    (d)    persons appointed commissioners for oaths under any other written law; and

    (e)    such other persons as the Minister may by notice appoint to be commissioners for oaths.

    (2) No commissioner for oaths shall exercise any of his powers as such in any proceeding in which he or any partner or employee of his is acting for any party or in which he has a personal interest.

    (3) Commissioners for oaths shall be entitled to charge the fees set out in the First Schedule in respect of the several matters to which they are applicable:

    Provided that all such fees taken by a commissioner for oaths who is a public officer shall be forthwith paid by him into the Consolidated Fund.

    (4) The Chief Justice may by notice from time to time amend the First Schedule.

5.    Penalty for holding self out as commissioner for oaths without entitlement and suspension from practising

    (1) Any person who shall hold himself out to be a commissioner for oaths or who shall receive any fee or reward as a commissioner for oaths, without being entitled to practise as such or perform duties as such, shall be liable to a fine of £100 and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine of £250 and to imprisonment for six months.

    (2) Any commissioner for oaths may be suspended from practising as such for such period as the Chief Justice may in his discretion think fit for any failure to perform his functions in the prescribed manner or for making any charge or demanding any payment for any act performed in his capacity as a commissioner for oaths in excess of that prescribed in the First Schedule.

6.    How oaths and affirmations may be administered

    (1) Before giving evidence in a judicial proceeding, a witness shall make the oath or affirmation set out in the Second Schedule. The court, or a person authorized by law or by the court in that behalf, shall ask such witness if he believes in Almighty God and, if so, whether he agrees to make the oath. If he answers both questions affirmatively he shall be required by such court or person authorized, as the case may…