Cap. 12 Art. 637Actio ad exhibendum.

(1) It shall be lawful to demand the production of documents which are in the possession of other persons -

(a) if such documents are the property of the party demanding the production thereof;

(b) if such documents belong in common to the party demanding their production and to the party against whom the demand is made;

(c) if the party demanding the production of the documents, although he is not the owner or a co-owner thereof, shows that he has an interest that such documents be produced by the other party to the suit;

(d) if the person possessing the documents, not being a party to the suit, does not declare on oath that, independently of any favour for either side, he has special reasons not to produce the documents;

(e) if the documents are public acts, or acts intended to constitute evidence in the interest of the public in general.

(2) It shall be lawful for the court to order the production only of such part of books or other documents as relate to the matter in issue.

(3) It shall not be lawful to demand the production of any document which is held by a public authority and -

(a) which is an exempt document under articles 29, 30 or 36(1) or sub-articles (4) or (5) of article 32 of the Freedom of Information Act; or

(b) the disclosure of which is prohibited by any other law.

(4) Where a demand is made for the production in court of a document held by a public authority, and the public authority is of the view that sub-article (3)(a) applies to that document, the public authority shall reply to the demand as if that demand were a request for disclosure of the document under the Freedom of Information Act; and the provisions of Parts II and IV and of articles 39, 40 and 43 of the Freedom of Information Act shall apply accordingly.

(5) Saving the provisions of article 518 of the Criminal Code it shall not be lawful to demand the production of any procès-verbal, record of inquiry, or other document relating to criminal matters, unless such record of inquiry, or document be procès-verbal, deposited in the registry.

(6) In this article "public authority" shall have the meaning assigned to it by the Freedom of Information Act.