Hong Kong Ordinances

EVIDENCE ORDINANCE - SECT 64

Conclusiveness of convictions for purposes of defamation actions

(1) In an action for libel or slander in which the question whether a person
did or did not commit a criminal offence is relevant to an issue arising in
the action, proof that, at the time when that issue falls to be determined,
that person stands convicted of that offence shall be conclusive evidence that
he committed that offence; and his conviction thereof shall be admissible in
evidence accordingly.

(2) In any such action in which by virtue of this section a person is proved
to have been convicted of an offence, the contents of any document which is
admissible as evidence of the conviction, and the contents of the information,
complaint, indictment or charge on which that person was convicted, shall,
without prejudice to the reception of any other admissible evidence for the
purpose of identifying the facts on which the conviction was based, be
admissible in evidence for the purpose of identifying those facts.

(3) For the purposes of this section a person shall be taken to stand
convicted of an offence if but only if there subsists against him a conviction
of that offence by or before any court in Hong Kong. (Amended 37 of 1984 s.
11)

(4) Section 62(4) and (5) shall apply for the purposes of this section as they
apply for the purposes of that section, but as if in the said subsection (4)
the reference to subsection (2) were a reference to subsection (2) of this
section.

(5) Subsections (1), (2), (3) and (4) shall apply for the purposes of any
action begun after the commencement of the Evidence (Amendment) Ordinance 1969
(25 of 1969), whenever the cause of action arose, but shall not apply for the
purposes of any action begun before the commencement of that Ordinance or any
appeal or other proceedings arising out of any such action. (Added 25 of 1969
s. 7)
[cf. 1968 c. 64 s. 13 U.K.]