{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-rules-northern-ireland-1981/part-24/chapter-1/rule-21",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-rules-northern-ireland-1981/part-24/chapter-1/rule-21.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1981/225",
  "legislation_title": "County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-rules-northern-ireland-1981",
  "path": "part/24/chapter/1/rule/21",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "21",
  "heading": "Affidavits",
  "text": "(1) Subject to any Rule or Form to the contrary all affidavits shall—\n(a) be expressed in the first person; and\n(b) be drawn up in paragraphs and numbered; and\n(c) indicate that the deponent is at lease sixteen years of age; and\n(d) be made by some person who has knowledge of the facts, stating–\n(i) the deponent’s residence and occupation; and\n(ii) what facts are within his own knowledge, and his means of knowledge; and\n(iii) what facts are deposed to on information derived from other sources and what the sources are.\n(2) Where a party is a corporate body, and affidavit required or authorised by any enactment (including these Orders) to be made by that party may be made by a director, secretary or other officer authorised by the corporate body for that purpose.\n(3) In any affidavit made by two or more deponents the names of all the deponents shall be inserted in the jurat, but if the affidavit of all the deponents is sworn at one time before the same person, it shall be sufficient to state that it is sworn by both or all of the above-named deponents.\n(4) Every affidavit shall be intituled in the action or matter in which it is sworn and a note shall be appended to every affidavit stating on whose behalf it is filed, and the note shall be copied on every office or other copy furnished to a party.\n(5) An affidavit shall not be filed which has been sworn before a person who, when it was sworn, was a party to the proceedings, the solicitor acting for the party on whose behalf it is to be used, or such solicitor’s agent, partner or clerk.\n(6) Before any affidavit is used it shall be filed in the Office but in an urgent case [ the judge or district judge as the case may be] may make a decree upon the undertaking of the party to file any affidavit used by him before it is filed, but the decree shall not be issued until the affidavit has been filed.\n(7) Where a party desires to cross-examine a deponent who has made an affidavit filed on behalf of the opposite party the following provisions shall apply—\n(a) he may serve on the opposite party a notice requiring the production of the deponent for cross-examination at the hearing;\n(b) if the party served with the notice does not produce the deponent at the hearing, he shall not be entitled to use the affidavit as evidence without leave of [ the judge or district judge as the case may be];\n(c) a witness summons may be issued on the application of the party served with the notice for the purpose of summoning the deponent to attend for cross-examination.\n(8) Unless [ the judge or district judge as the case may be] otherwise orders, no affidavit shall be filed or used in any proceedings—\n(a) which is blotted so as to obliterate any word; or\n(b) which is illegibly written; or\n(c) which is so altered as to be illegible; or\n(d) which is so imperfect, by reason of having blanks therein or otherwise, that it cannot be easily read or understood; or\n(e) if there is any interlineation, alteration or erasure in the body of the affidavit or jurat, unless the person before whom the affidavit was sworn has initialled the interlineation or alteration, and in the case of an erasure has re-written and signed in the margin of the affidavit any words or figures written on the erasure.\n(9) Where the chief clerk refuses, under paragraph (8), to file an affidavit he shall give notice in Form 117 to the party presenting the affidavit for filing.\n(10) Where it appears to the person administering the oath that the deponent is illiterate or blind, he shall certify in the jurat that—\n(a) the affidavit was read in his presence to the deponent; and\n(b) the deponent seemed perfectly to understand it; and\n(c) the deponent made his signature or mark in his presence;\nand the affidavit shall not be used in evidence without such a certificate, unless [ the judge or district judge as the case may be] is otherwise satisfied that it was read over to and appeared to be perfectly understood by the deponent.\n(11) [ The judge or district judge as the case may be] may allow an affidavit to be used in evidence notwithstanding any defect by mis-description of parties or otherwise in the title or jurat or any other irregularity in the form of the affidavit.\n(12) An affidavit of service shall state when, where, how and by whom service was affected.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "Words amended by S.R. 2013 No. 19 with effect from 25.02.13"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "Words amended by S.R. 2013 No. 19 with effect from 25.02.13"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1981/225/part/24/chapter/1/rule/21",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:45:17.527867+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}