§ 1739. — State and Territorial nonjudicial records; full faith and credit.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 28USC1739]
TITLE 28--JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
PART V--PROCEDURE
CHAPTER 115--EVIDENCE; DOCUMENTARY
Sec. 1739. State and Territorial nonjudicial records; full faith
and credit
All nonjudicial records or books kept in any public office of any
State, Territory, or Possession of the United States, or copies thereof,
shall be proved or admitted in any court or office in any other State,
Territory, or Possession by the attestation of the custodian of such
records or books, and the seal of his office annexed, if there be a
seal, together with a certificate of a judge of a court of record of the
county, parish, or district in which such office may be kept, or of the
Governor, or secretary of state, the chancellor or keeper of the great
seal, of the State, Territory, or Possession that the said attestation
is in due form and by the proper officers.
If the certificate is given by a judge, it shall be further
authenticated by the clerk or prothonotary of the court, who shall
certify, under his hand and the seal of his office, that such judge is
duly commissioned and qualified; or, if given by such Governor,
secretary, chancellor, or keeper of the great seal, it shall be under
the great seal of the State, Territory, or Possession in which it is
made.
Such records or books, or copies thereof, so authenticated, shall
have the same full faith and credit in every court and office within the
United States and its Territories and Possessions as they have by law or
usage in the courts or offices of the State, Territory, or Possession
from which they are taken.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 947.)
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Sec. 688 (R.S. Sec. 906).
Words ``Possession of the United States'' were substituted for ``or
any country subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.''
Words ``or copies thereof'' were added in two places. Copies have
always been used to prove records and books under section 688 of title
28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., and the addition of these words clarifies the
former implied meaning of such section.
In the first paragraph of the revised section words ``a judge of a
court of record'' were substituted for words ``the presiding justice of
the court'' and in the second paragraph ``judge'' was substituted for
``presiding justice'' for convenience and without change of substance.
Words ``and its Territories and Possessions'' were added after
``United States'', near the end of the section, in view of provisions of
section 688 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., for the admission of records
and books in any court or office in any other State, Territory, or ``in
any such country.'' (Changed to ``Possession'' in this section.)
See also Rule 44 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Changes were made in phraseology.
