Title 6, Guam Rules of Evidence

COL120106 When a person is sworn who believes in any other than the Christian religion, he may be sworn according to the peculiar ceremony of his religion, if there be any such. SOURCE: CCP § 2096. ---------- COL120106

SOURCE: CCP § 1887, modified grammatically only. Repealed by implication. Found in 5 GCA Chapter 10.

SOURCE: CCP § 1888, modified to refer to the Trust Territory; amended by P.L. 18- 44:24. P.L. 18-44 repealed by P.L. 19-5:139. This section repealed by implication - totally replaced 5 GCA Chapter 10.

SOURCE: CCP § 1889. Repealed by implication - totally replaced 5 GCA Chapter 10. ---------- ARTICLE 2 PUBLIC WRITINGS

(a) Laws, whether organic or ordinary, are either written or unwritten. (b) A written law is that which is promulgated in writing, and of which a record is in evidence. (c) An unwritten law is the law, not promulgated and recorded as mentioned in subsection (b), but which is, nev…

The oral testimony of witnesses skilled therein is admissible as evidence of the unwritten law of any state or foreign country, as are also printed and published books of reports of decisions of the courts of such state or foreign country, as proved to be commonly admitted in suc…

The recitals in a public law are conclusive evidence of the facts recited for the purpose of carrying it into effect, but no further. The recitals in a private law of another state or foreign country or the United States are conclusive evidence between parties who claim under its…

A copy of the judicial record of a foreign country is also admissible in evidence, upon proof: 1. That the copy offered has been compared by the witness with the original, and is an exact transcript of the whole of it; 2. That such original was in the custody of the clerk of the …

COL120106 The effect of a judgment or a final order in an action or special proceedings before a court or judge of Guam, or of the United States, having jurisdiction to pronounce the judgment or order, is as follows: 1. In case of a judgment or order against a specific thing, or …

Other judicial orders of a court or judge of Guam, or of the United States, create a disputable presumption, according to the matter directly determined, between the same parties and the representatives and successors in interest by title subsequent to the commencement of the act…

The parties are deemed to be the same when those between whom the evidence is offered were on opposite sides of the former case, and a judgment or other determination could in that case have been made between them alone, though other parties were joined with both or either. SOURC…

That only is deemed to have been adjudged in a former judgment which appears upon its face to have been so adjudged, or which was actually and necessarily included therein or necessary thereto. SOURCE: CCP § 1910.

Whenever, pursuant to the last four Sections [4209-4212 inclusive) a party is bound by record, and such party stands in the relation of a surety for another, the latter is also bound from the time that he has notice of the action or proceeding, and an opportunity at the surety's …

The effect of a judicial record of a state, territory, commonwealth, possession or trust territory of the United States and the District of Columbia is the same in Guam as in the place where it was made, except that it can only be enforced in Guam by an action, and except, also, …

A final judgment of any tribunal of a foreign country having jurisdiction, according to the laws of such country, to pronounce the judgment, shall have the same effect as a judicial record of a state, as provided by 4214, above. SOURCE: CCP § 1915 modified. COMMENT: A literal rea…

The effect of the judicial record of a court of admiralty of a foreign country is the same as if it were the record of a court of admiralty of the United States. SOURCE: CCP § 1914. COMMENT: The law of Admiralty has developed its own traditions apart from those of the common law …

Any judicial record may be impeached by evidence of a want of jurisdiction in the court of judicial officer, of collusion between the parties, or of fraud in the party offering the record, in respect to the proceedings. SOURCE: CCP § 1916. COMMENT: The Advisory Committee's Note t…

The jurisdiction sufficient to sustain a record is jurisdiction over the cause, over the parties, and over the thing, when a specific thing is the subject of the judgment. SOURCE: CCP § 1917.

Church records and/or registers, and/or entries therefrom, and/or certificates kept or issued by a clergyman or other person in accordance with law or in accordance with the rules, regulations and/or requirements of a religious denomination, society or a church, shall be competen…

Church records or registers of entries therefrom or certificates of the character mentioned in 4219, in order to be admissible in evidence shall be proved by the original or by a copy thereof certified by the clergyman or other person having the custody of the original, provided …

Entries in public or other official books or records, made in the performance of his duty by a public officer of Guam, or by another person in the performance of a duty specially enjoined by law, are prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein. SOURCE: CCP § 1920. SOURCE: Wh…

Whenever a copy of a writing is certified for the purpose of evidence, the certificate must state in substance that the copy is a correct copy of the original, or of a specified part thereof, as the case may be. The certificate must be under the official seal of the certifying of…

The provisions of this Title applicable to public writings of a state are equally applicable to the public writings of the United States, of a territory, possession, Commonwealth or Trust Territory of the United States, and of the District of Columbia. SOURCE: CCP § 1924 updated …

COL120106 A certificate of title or purchase, or of location, of any lands in Guam, issued or made in pursuance of any law of the United States, or of Guam, is primary evidence that the holder or assignee of such certificate is the owner of the lands described therein. SOURCE: CC…

An entry made by an officer or board of officers, or under the direction and in the presence of either, in the course of official duty, is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in such entry. SOURCE: CCP § 1926. CROSS-REFERENCES: § 4103 of this Division.

A deed of conveyance of real property, purporting to have been executed by a proper officer in pursuance of legal process of any of the courts of record of Guam, or in pursuance of any law authorizing such transfer of land, acknowledged and recorded in the Department of Land Mana…

Except as specifically provided in this Article, this Article concerns itself with private writings only. SOURCE: New Section. COMMENT: Much of former CCP Ch. 3, Article 3 is covered in Division 1. This Article contains those portions of the former law not covered in Division 1 -…

There shall be no difference hereafter, in Guam, between sealed and unsealed writings. A writing under seal may therefore be changed, or altogether discharged by a writing not under seal. SOURCE: CCP § 1932. COMMENT: At common law, the sealing of private writings had legal signif…

The execution of an instrument is the subscribing and delivering it. SOURCE: Former CCP § 1933, as modified. COL120106 COMMENT: The modification here is the deletion of the words "with or without affixing a seal." With the elimination of any legal difference between sealed and un…

A subscribing witness is one who sees a writing executed or hears it acknowledged, and at the request of the party, thereupon signs his name as a witness. SOURCE: CCP § 1935. CROSS-REFERENCES: § 903 of Division 1 (Guam Rules of Evidence.)

The entries and other writings of a decedent in a position to know the facts stated therein, made at or near the time of the transaction, may be read as prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein, in the following cases: 1. When the entry was made against the interest of th…

The record of a conveyance of real property, or any other record, a transcript of which is admissible in evidence, must not be removed from the office where it is kept, except upon the order of a court, in cases where the inspection of the record is shown to be essential to the j…

The court, on its own motion, by an order entered in the minutes, may order destroyed or otherwise disposed or, any exhibit introduced in the trial of a civil action or proceeding which, if appeal has not been taken from the COL120106 decision of the court in the said action or p…

Whenever, under any law of Guam or under any rule, regulation, order, or requirement made pursuant to law, any matter is required or permitted to be supported, evidenced, established, or proved by the sworn declaration, verification, certificate, statement, oath or affidavit, in …

SOURCE: CCP § 1957. Substance Duplicated in § 2110 of this Division.

An inference is a deduction which the reason of the judge or jury makes from the facts proved, without an express direction of law to that effect. SOURCE: CCP § 1958, modified to reflect juries.

A presumption is a deduction which the law expressly directs to be made from particular facts. SOURCE: CCP § 1959. COMMENT: The presumptions of this Chapter are not those mentioned in GRE 301. The presumptions here are those which arise upon specific direction of law.

An inference must be founded both on a fact legally proved and on such a deduction from that fact as is warranted by a consideration of the usual propensities or passions of men, the particular propensities or passions of the person whose act is in question, the course of busines…

A presumption, unless declared by law to be conclusive, may be controverted by other evidence, direct or indirect, but unless so con- COL02132012 troverted, the judges and juries are bound to find according to the presumption in all civil cases. SOURCE: CCP § 1961, as modified. C…

The following presumptions, and no others, are deemed conclusive: 1. A malicious and guilty intent, from the deliberate commission of an unlawful act, for the purpose of injuring another; 2. The truth of the facts recited, from the recital in a written instrument between the part…

COL02132012 All other presumptions are satisfactory if uncontradicted. They are denominated disputable presumptions, and may be controverted by other evidence. The following are of that kind: 1. That a person is innocent of a crime or wrong; 2. That an unlawful act was done with …

No estate or interest in real property, other than for leases for a term not exceeding one (1) year, nor any trust or power over or concerning it, or in any manner relating thereto, can be created, granted, assigned, surrendered or declared, otherwise than by operation of law, or…

The preceding section must not be construed to affect the power of a testator in the disposition of his real property by a last will and testament, nor to prevent any trust from arising or being extinguished by implication or operation of law, nor to abridge the power of any cour…

In the following the agreement is invalid, unless the same or some note or memorandum thereof be in writing, and subscribed by the party charged, COL120106 or by his agent. Evidence, therefore, of the agreement, cannot be received without the writing or secondary evidence of its …

No evidence is admissible to charge a person upon a representation as to the credit of a third person, unless such representation, or some memorandum thereof, be in writing, and subscribed by or in the hand- writing of the party to be charged. SOURCE: CCP § 1974. ---------- COL12…

The party producing a writing as genuine which has been altered, or appears to have been altered, after its execution, in a part material to the question in dispute, must account for the appearance or alteration. He may show that the alteration was made by another, without his co…