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Depositions of Persons who have died, or who are absent, may, in certain Cases, be read in Evidence.
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XVII. And be it enacted, That in all Cases where any Person shall appear or be brought before any Justice or Justices of the Peace charged with any indictable Offence, whether committed in Ireland or upon the High Seas, or on Land beyond the Sea, or whether such Person appear voluntarily upon Summons or have been apprehended, with or without Warrant, or be in Custody for the same or any other Offence, such Justice or Justices, before he or they shall commit such accused Person to Prison for Trial, or before he or they shall admit him to Bail, shall, in the Presence of such accused Person, who shall be at liberty to put Questions to any Witness produced against him, take the Statement (M.) on Oath or Affirmation of those who shall know the Facts and Circumstances of the Case, and shall put the same into Writing, and such Depositions shall be read over to and signed respectively by the Witnesses who shall have been so examined, and shall be signed also by the Justice or Justices taking the same; and the Justice or Justices before whom any such Witness shall appear to be examined as aforesaid shall, before such Witness is examined, administer to such Witness the usual Oath or Affirmation, which such Justice or Justices shall have full Power and Authority to do; and if upon the Trial of the Person so accused as first aforesaid it shall be proved, by the Oath or Affirmation of any credible Witness, that any Person whose Deposition shall have been taken as aforesaid is dead, and if also it be proved that such Deposition was taken in the Presence or Hearing of the Person so accused, and that he or his Counsel or Attorney had a full Opportunity of cross-examining the Witness, then, if such Deposition purport to be signed by the Justice or Justices by or before whom the same purports to have been taken, it shall be lawful to read such Deposition as Evidence in such Prosecution, without further Proof thereof, unless it shall be proved that such Deposition was not in fact signed by the Justice or Justices purporting to sign the same.
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