sion had the right and opportunity for cross-examination with an interest and motive similar to that which the adverse party has in the action in which the testimony is offered; or (C) in criminal actions, depositions or prior testimony as provided by section 3507 of Title 6; (4) Contemporaneous Statements and Statements Admissible on Ground of Necessity Generally. A statement (A) which the judge finds was made while the declarant was perceiving the event or condition which the statement narrates, describes or explains, or (B) which the judge finds was made while the declarant was under the stress of a nervous excitement caused by such perception;

(5) Dying Declarations. A statement by a person unavailable as a witness because of his death if the judge finds that it was made voluntarily and in good faith and while the declarant was conscious of his impending death and believed that there was no hope of his

recovery;

(6) Confessions. In a criminal proceeding as against the accused, a previous statement by him relative to the offense charged if, and only if, the judge finds that the accused when making the statement was conscious and was capable of understanding what he said and did, and that he was not induced to make the statement (A) under compulsion or by infliction or threats of infliction of suffering upon him or another, or by prolonged interrogation under such circumstances as to render the statement involuntary, or (B) by threats or promises concerning action to be taken by a public official with reference to the crime, likely to cause the accused to make such a statement falsely, and made by a person whom the accused reasonably believed to have the power or authority to execute the same;

(7) Admissions by Parties. As against himself a statement by a person who is a party to the action in his individual or a representative capacity and if the latter, who was acting in such representative capacity in making the statement;

(8) Authorized and Adoptive Admissions. As against a party, a statement (A) by a person authorized by the party to make a statement or statements for him concerning the subject of the statement, or (B) of which the party with knowledge of the content thereof has, by words or other conduct, manifested his adoption or his belief in its truth;

(9) Vicarious Admissions. As against a party, a statement which would be admissible if made by the declarant at the hearing if (A) the statement concerned a matter within the scope of an agency or employment of the declarant for the party and was made before the termination of such relationship, or (B) the party and the declarant were participating in a plan to commit a crime or a civil wrong and the statement was relevant to the plan-or its subject matter and was made while the plan was in existence and before its complete execution or other termination, or (C) one of the issues between the party and the proponent of the evidence of the statement is a legal liability of the declarant, and the statement tends to establish that liability; (10) Declarations Against Interest. Subject to the limitations of exception (6), a statement which the judge finds was at the time of the assertion so far contrary to the declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest or so far subjected him to civil or criminal liability or so far rendered invalid a claim by him against another or created such risk of making him an object of hatred, ridicule or social disapproval in the community that a reasonable man in his position would not have made the statement unless he believed it to be true;

(11) Voter's Statements. A statement by a voter concerning his qualifications to vote or the fact or content of his vote;

(12) Statements of Physical or Mental Condition of Declarant. Unless the judge finds it was made in bad faith, a statement of the declarant's (A) then existing state of mind, emotion or physical sensation, including statements of intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain and bodily health, but not including memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed, when such a mental or physical condition is in issue or is relevant to prove or explain acts or conduct of the declarant, or (B) previous symptoms, pain or physical sensation, made to a physician consulted for treatment or for diagnosis with a view to treatment, and relevant to an issue of declarant's bodily condition;

(13) Business Entries and the Like. Writings offered as memoranda or records of acts, conditions or events to prove the facts stated therein, if the judge finds that they were made in the regular course of a business at or about the time of the act, condition or event recorded, and that the sources of information from which made and the method and circumstances of their preparation were such as to indicate their trustworthiness;

(14) Absence of Entry in Business Records. Evidence of the absence of a memorandum or record from the memoranda or records of a business of an asserted act, event or condition, to prove the nonoccurrence of the act or event, or the non-existence of the condition, if the judge finds that it was the regular course of that business to make such memoranda of all such acts, events or conditions at the time thereof or within a reasonable time thereafter, and to preserve them; (15) Reports and Findings of Public Officials. Subject to section 2963 of this title, written reports or findings of fact made by a public official of the United States or any agency thereof or of a state of the United States, if the judge finds that the making thereof was within the scope of the duty of such official and that it was his duty (A) to perform the act reported, or (B) to observe the act, condition or event reported, or (C) to investigate the facts concerning the act, condition or event and to make findings or draw conclusions based on such investigation;

(16) Filed Reports, Made by Persons Exclusively Authorized. Subject to section 2963 of this title, writings made as a record, report or finding of fact, if the judge finds that (A) the maker was authorized by statute or regulation to perform, to the exclusion of persons not so authorized, the functions reflected in the writing, and was required by statute or regulation to file in a designated public office a written report of specified matters relating to the performance of such functions, and (B) the writing was made and filed as so required by the statute or regulation;

(17) Content of Official Record. Subject to section 2963 of this title, (A) if meeting the requirements of authentication under section 2992 of this title, to prove the content of the record, a writing purporting to be a copy of an official record or of an entry therein, (B) to prove the absence of a record in a specified office, a writing made by the official custodian of the official records of the office, reciting diligent search and failure to find such record;

(18) Certificate of Marriage. Subject to section 2963 of this title, certificates that the maker thereof performed a marriage ceremony, to prove the truth of the recitals thereof, if the judge finds that (A) the maker of the certificate at the time and place certified as the time and place of the marriage was authorized by law to perform marriage ceremonies, and (B) the certificate was issued at that time or within a reasonable time thereafter;

(19) Records of Documents Affecting an Interest in Property. Subject to section 2963 of this title, the official record of a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property, to prove the

content of the original recorded document and its execution and delivery by each person by whom it purports to have been executed, if the judge finds that (A) the record is in fact a record of an office of a state or nation or of any governmental subdivision thereof, and (B) an applicable statute authorized such a document to be recorded in that office;

(20) Judgment of Previous Conviction. Evidence of a final judgment adjudging a person guilty of a felony, to prove any fact essential to sustain the judgment;

(21) Judgment Against Persons Entitled to Indemnity. To prove the wrong of the adverse party and the amount of damages sustained by the judgment creditor, evidence of a final judgment if offered by a judgment debtor in an action in which he seeks to recover partial or total indemnity or exoneration for money paid or liability incurred by him because of the judgment, provided the judge finds that the judgment was rendered for damages sustained by the judg ment creditor as a result of the wrong of the adverse party to the present action;

(22) Judgment Determining Public Interest in Land. To prove any fact which was essential to the judgment, evidence of a final judgment determining the interest or lack of interest of the public or of a state or nation or governmental division thereof in land, if offered by a party in an action in which any such fact or such interest or lack of interest is a material matter;

(23) Statement Concerning One's Own Family History. A statement of a matter concerning a declarant's own birth, marriage, divorce, legitimacy, relationship by blood or marriage, race-ancestry or other similar fact of his family history, even though the declarant had no means of acquiring personal knowledge of the matter declared, if the judge finds that the declarant is unavailable;

(24) Statement Concerning Family History of Another. A statement concerning the birth, marriage, divorce, death, legitimacy, race-ancestry, relationship by blood or marriage or other similar fact of the family history of a person other than the declarant if the judge (A) finds that the declarant was related to the other by blood or marriage or finds that he was otherwise so intimately associated with the other's family as to be likely to have accurate information concerning the matter declared, and made the statement as upon information received from the other or from a person related by blood or marriage to the other, or as upon repute in the other's family, and (B) finds that the declarant is unavailable as a witness; (25) Statement Concerning Family History Based on Statement of Another Declarant. A statement of a declarant that a statement admissible under exceptions (23) or (24) of this section was made by another declarant, offered as tending to prove the truth of the matter declared by both declarants, if the judge finds that both declarants are unavailable as witnesses;

(26) Reputation in Family Concerning Family History. Evidence of reputation among members of a family, if the reputation concerns the birth, marriage, divorce, death, legitimacy, race-ancestry or other fact of the family history of a member of the family by blood or marriage;

(27) Reputation-Boundaries, General History, Family History. Evidence of reputation in a community as tending to prove the truth of the matter reputed, if (A) the reputation concerns boundaries of, or customs affecting, land in the community, and the judge finds that the reputation, if any, arose before controversy, or (B) the reputation concerns an event of general history of the community or of the state or nation of which the community is a part, and the judge finds that the event was of importance to the community, or (C) the reputation

concerns the birth, marriage, divorce, death, legitimacy, relationship by blood or marriage, or race-ancestry of a person resident in the community at the time of the reputation, or some other similar fact of his family history or of his personal status or condition which the judge finds likely to have been the subject of a reliable reputation in that community;

(28) Reputation as to Character. If a trait of a person's character at a specified time is material, evidence of his reputation with reference thereto at a relevant time in the community in which he then resided or in a group with which he then habitually associated, to prove the truth of the matter reputed;

(29) Recitals in Documents Affecting Property. Evidence of a statement relevant to a material matter, contained in a deed of conveyance or a will or other document purporting to affect an interest in property, offered as tending to prove the truth of the matter stated, if the judge finds that the matter stated would be relevant upon an issue as to an interest in the property, and that the dealings with the property since the statement was made have not been inconsistent with the truth of the statement;

(30) Commercial Lists and the Like. Evidence of statements of matters of interest to persons engaged in an occupation contained in a list, register, periodical, or other published compilation to prove the truth of any relevant matter so stated if the judge finds that the compilation is published for use by persons engaged in that occupation and is generally used and relied upon by them;

(31) Learned Treatises. A published treatise, periodical or pamphlet on a subject of history, science or art to prove the truth of a matter stated therein if the judge takes judicial notice, or a witness expert in the subject testifies that the treatise, periodical or pamphlet is a reliable authority in the subject.

§ 2963. Discretion of judge under exceptions (15), (16), (17), (18) and (19) to exclude evidence

Any writing admissible pursuant to exceptions (15), (16), (17), (18), and (19) of section 2962 of this title shall be received only if the party offering such writing has delivered a copy of it or so much thereof as may relate to the controversy, to each adverse party a reasonable time before trial unless the judge finds that the adverse party has not been unfairly surprised by the failure to deliver the

copy.

§ 2964. Credibility of declarant

Evidence of a statement or other conduct by a declarant inconsistent with a statement received in evidence under an exception to section 2962 of this title is admissible for the purpose of discrediting the declarant, though he had no opportunity to deny or explain such inconsistent statement. Any other evidence tending to impair or support the credibility of the declarant is admissible if it would have been admissible had the declarant been a witness.

§ 2965. Multiple hearsay

A statement within the scope of an exception to section 2962 of this title is not inadmissible on the ground that it includes a statement made by another declarant and is offered to prove the truth of the included statement if the included statement itself meets the requirements of an exception.

Subchapter IX-Authentication and Content of Writings

§ 2991. Authentication required; ancient documents

Authentication of a writing is required before it may be received in evidence. Authentication may be by evidence sufficient to sustain a finding of its authenticity or by any other means provided by law. If the judge finds that a writing (1) is at least thirty years old at the time it is offered, and (2) is in such condition as to create no suspicion concerning its authenticity, and (3) at the time of its discovery was in a place in which such a document, if authentic, would be likely to be found, it is sufficiently authenticated.

§ 2992. Authentication of copies of records

A writing purporting to be a copy of an official record or of an entry therein, meets the requirement of authentication if (1) the judge finds that the writing purports to be published by authority of the nation, state or subdivision thereof, in which the record is kept; or (b) evidence has been introduced sufficient to warrant a finding that the writing is a correct copy of the record or entry; or (3) the office in which the record is kept is within the Canal Zone and the writing is attested as a correct copy of the record or entry by a person purporting to be an officer, or a deputy of an officer, having the legal custody of the record; or (4) if the office is not within the Canal Zone, the writing is attested as required in clause (3) and is accompanied by a certificate that such officer has the custody of the record. If the office in which the record is kept is within the United States, the certificate may be made by a judge of a court of record of the district or political subdivision in which the record is kept, authenticated by the seal of the court, or may be made by any public officer having a seal of office and having official duties in the district or political subdivision in which the record is kept, authenticated by the seal of his office. If the office in which the record is kept is in a foreign state or country, the certificate may be made by a secretary of an embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent or by any officer in the foreign service of the United States stationed in the foreign state or country in which the record is kept, and authenticated by the seal of his office.

§ 2993. Certificate of lack of record

A writing admissible pursuant to exception (17) (B) of section 2962 of this title is authenticated in the same manner as is provided in clause (3) or (4) of section 2992 of this title.

8 2994. Documentary originals as the best evidence

(a) As tending to prove the content of a writing, no evidence other than the writing itself is admissible, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, unless the judge finds (1) that the writing is lost or has been destroyed without fraudulent intent on the part of the proponent, or (2) that the writing is outside the reach of the court's process and not procurable by the proponent, or (3) that the opponent, at a time when the writing was under his control has been notified, expressly or by implication from the pleadings, that it would be needed at the hearing, and on request at the hearing has failed to produce it, or (4) that the writing is an official record, or is a writing affecting property authorized to be recorded and actually recorded in the public records as described in exception (19) of section 2962 of this title. (b) If the judge makes one of the findings specified in the preceding paragraph, secondary evidence of the content of the writing is admissible. Evidence offered by the opponent tending to prove (1) that the asserted writing never existed, or (2) that a writing produced at the trial is the asserted writing, or (3) that the secondary evidence does not