STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959
- Reprinted as at 31 August 1991 (HISTACT CHAP 318 #DATE 31:08:1991)
*1*The Statutory Declarations Act 1959 as shown in this reprint comprises Act
No. 52, 1959 amended as indicated in the Tables below.
Table of Acts
Act Number Date of Date of commencement Application,
and year Assent saving or
transitional
provisions
Statutory Declarations Act 1959
52, 1959 22 May 1959 1 Sept 1959
Statute Law Revision (Decimal Currency) Act 1966
93, 1966 29 Oct 1966 1 Dec 1966 -
Statute Law Revision Act 1973
216, 1973 19 Dec 1973 31 Dec 1973 Ss. 9 (1) and
10 Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 1990
115, 1990 21 Dec 1990 Ss. 3,5,6,8,9, -
16, 17, 20-23, 28,
30, 32, 33, 38 and
39: 4 Feb 1991 (see
Gazette 1991, No. GN3,
p. 278)
Ss. 4,7,10-15,
18, 19, 24-27, 29,
31, and 34-37: 21 June 1991
Remainder: Royal Assent
Table of Amendments
ad.=added or inserted am.=amended rep.=repealed rs.=repealed and substituted
Provision affected
How affected
S. 4
am. No. 216, 1973
S. 11
am. No. 93, 1966
S. 12
am. No. 115, 1990
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - TABLE OF PROVISIONS
TABLE
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
1. Short title
2. Commencement
3. Repeal and saving
4. Interpretation
5. Application
6. Authority to make and use statutory declarations
7. References to statutory declarations
8. Form of statutory declaration
9. Commissioners for Declarations
10. Declarations under other laws
11. False declarations
12. Jurisdiction of courts
13. Extension of Act to Territories
THE SCHEDULE
Statutory Declaration
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - LONG TITLE
SECT
An Act relating to Statutory Declarations
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 1
Short title
SECT
1. This Act may be cited as the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.*1*
SEE NOTES TO FIRST ARTICLE OF THIS CHAPTER .
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 2
Commencement
SECT
2. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of September, One
thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 3
Repeal and saving
SECT
3.(1) The following Acts are repealed:
Statutory Declarations Act 1911;
Statutory Declarations Act 1922;
Statutory Declarations Act 1944.
(2) Notwithstanding the repeal effected by the last preceding subsection, a
person appointed as a Commissioner for Declarations under the Statutory
Declarations Act 1911, or under that Act as amended, and holding office
immediately before the commencement of this Act continues to hold office as a
Commissioner for Declarations after the commencement of this Act as if he had
been appointed under this Act.
(3) A statutory declaration purporting to be made, after the commencement of
this Act, by virtue of the Statutory Declarations Act 1911, or by virtue of
that Act as amended, has the same force and effect, and entails the same
consequences, as if it had been expressed to be made by virtue of this Act.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 4
Interpretation
SECT
4. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
'Commissioner for Affidavits' means a person authorized under the law of the
Commonwealth or of a State or Territory to take affidavits;
'Commissioner for Declarations' means a person appointed under this Act or
under a State Act to be a Commissioner for Declarations, and includes a person
referred to in subsection (2) of the last preceding section;
'Magistrate' means a Chief, Police, Stipendiary, Resident or Special
Magistrate.
'State' includes the Northern Territory;
'Territory' does not include the Northern Territory.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 5
Application
SECT
5.(1) Subject to this section, this Act applies both within and without the
Commonwealth.
(2) Except as provided by subsection (8) of section twelve of this Act, this
Act does not apply in a Territory not forming part of the Commonwealth unless
this Act extends to that Territory by virtue of section thirteen of this Act.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 6
Authority to make and use statutory declarations
SECT
6.(1) A person may, if he so desires, make a statutory declaration in
relation to any matter.
(2) Subject to the next succeeding subsection, a statutory declaration may
be used:
(a) for the purposes of a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory,
unless
the contrary intention appears in that law;
(b) in connexion with any matter arising under a law of the Commonwealth
or
of a Territory, unless the contrary intention appears in that law; or
(c) in connexion with the administration of any Department of State of the
Commonwealth.
(3) The last preceding subsection does not authorize a statutory declaration
to be used as evidence in a judicial proceeding but nothing in this section
prevents a statutory declaration from being so used.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 7
References to statutory declarations
SECT
7. Where, in a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory (whether passed or
made before or after the commencement of this Act), a reference is made to a
statutory declaration, the reference includes a reference to a statutory
declaration made by virtue of this Act, unless the contrary intention appears
in that law.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 8
Form of statutory declaration
SECT
8. A statutory declaration may be in accordance with the form in the
Schedule to this Act and may be made before:
(a) a Magistrate;
(b) a Justice of the Peace;
(c) a Commissioner for Affidavits;
(d) a Commissioner for Declarations;
(e) a Notary Public;
(f) a person before whom a statutory declaration may be made under the law
of the State in which the declaration is made; or
(g) an Australian Consular Officer or an Australian Diplomatic Officer as
defined by section two of the Consular Fees Act 1955.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 9
Commissioners for Declarations
SECT
9. The Attorney-General may appoint persons to be Commissioners for
Declarations, who shall hold office during his pleasure.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 10
Declarations under other laws
SECT
10. Where, by a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory (whether passed or
made before or after the commencement of this Act), a declaration is required
to be made by a person before some other person, the declaration may, unless
the contrary intention appears in that law, be made before the person
mentioned in that law or before a person before whom a statutory declaration
under this Act may be made.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 11
False declarations
SECT
11.(1) A person who wilfully makes a false statement in a statutory
declaration is guilty of an offence against this Act.
(2) An offence against this Act may be prosecuted either summarily or upon
indictment but an offender is not liable to be punished more than once in
respect of the same offence.
(3) The punishment for an offence against this Act is:
(a) if the offence is prosecuted summarily-a fine not exceeding Two
hundred
dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both; or
(b) if the offence is prosecuted upon indictment-imprisonment for a term
not
exceeding four years.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 12
Jurisdiction of courts
SECT
12.(1) Subject to the succeeding provisions of this section:
(a) the several courts of the States (other than the Northern
Territory) are invested with federal jurisdiction;
and
(b) jurisdiction is conferred on the several courts of the Territories
and of the Northern Territory;
with respect to offences against this Act.
(2) The jurisdiction invested in or conferred on courts by the last
preceding subsection is invested or conferred within the limits (other than
limits having effect by reference to the places at which offences are
committed) of their several jurisdictions, whether those limits are as to
subject-matter or otherwise, but subject to the conditions and restrictions
specified in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (2) of section
thirty-nine of the Judiciary Act 1903-1955.
(3) The jurisdiction invested in, or conferred on, a court of summary
jurisdiction by this section shall not be judicially exercised except by a
Judge, a Magistrate, or a District Officer or Assistant District Officer of a
Territory.
(4) The trial on indictment of an offence against this Act, not being an
offence committed within a State, may be held in any State or Territory.
(5) Subject to this Act, the laws of a State or Territory with respect to
the arrest and custody of offenders or persons charged with offences and the
procedure for:
(a) their summary conviction;
(b) their examination and commitment for trial on indictment;
(c) their trial and conviction on indictment; and
(d) the hearing and determination of appeals arising out of any such trial
or conviction or out of any proceedings connected therewith;
and for holding accused persons to bail apply, so far as they are applicable,
to a person who is charged in that State or Territory with an offence against
this Act.
(6) Except as provided by this section, the Judiciary Act 1903-1955 applies
in relation to offences against this Act.
(7) For the purposes of this section, 'court of summary jurisdiction'
includes a court of a Territory sitting as a court for the making of summary
orders or the summary punishment of offences under the law of the Territory.
(8) This section extends to all the Territories not forming part of the
Commonwealth.
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SECT 13
Extension of Act to Territories
SECT
13. Subject to subsection (8) of the last preceding section, this Act
extends to Norfolk Island and to such other Territories not forming part of
the Commonwealth as the Governor-General, by Proclamation, declares.*2*
*2* S.13-By Proclamation dated 14 September 1972 and in force at 31 Au gust
1979, this Act was declared to extend to the Territories of Christmas Island
and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (see Gazette 1972, No. 93)
STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959 - SCHEDULE
SCH
THE SCHEDULE Section 8
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
Statutory Declaration
I, (1), do solemnly and sincerely
declare (2)
And I make this solemn declaration by virtue of the Statutory
Declarations Act 1959, and subject to the penalties provided by that
Act for the making of false statements in statutory declarations,
conscientiously believing the statements contained in this declaration
to be true in every particular.
(3)
Declared at the day of 19
Before me,
(4)
(5)
(1) Here insert name, address and occupation of person making the
declaration.
(2) Here insert matter declared to. Where the matter is long, add the words
'as follows:-'and then set the matter out in numbered paragraphs.
(3) Signature of person making the declaration.
(4) Signature of person before whom the declaration is made.
(5) Here insert title of person before whom the declaration is made.