Section 10: Evidence

10. Evidence (1) Every certificate under the hand of the Registrar of Civil Status or an officer shall be evidence, until the contrary is proved, of the contents of the entry reproduced in the certificate, even where the register containing the entry has disappeared or been lost or destroyed. (2) A birth, death or marriage may be proved by oral or written evidence where— (a) the registers have been lost or are non-existent; or (b) where the leaves of the registers on which the entries relating to the birth, death or marriage are alleged to have been made, are partially or entirely destroyed or defaced; (c) the marriage was celebrated or the birth or the death occurred in a country the law of which does not provide for civil status registers or certificates. C24 – 9 [Issue 1] Civil Status Act (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where it is found that the contents of a certificate are at variance with the contents of the entry of which it purports to be a copy or extract, the certificate shall be surrendered to the Registrar of Civil Status who shall issue, free of charge, to the person surrendering the document, a true copy or extract of the entry, as the case may be. [S. 10 amended by Act 9 of 1984; Act 35 of 1985; Act 8 of 1997.]