Documentary Evidence Act, 1925

Offences and penalties.

6.—(1) Every person who shall print or publish any copy of an Act of the Oireachtas or any copy of a proclamation, order, rule, regulation, byelaw, or other official document made or issued—

(a) by the Executive Council, or

(b) by the Governor-General on the advice of the Executive Council, or

(c) by any Minister who is the head of a Department of State established by the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924 (No. 16 of 1924), or

(d) by any body, corporate or unincorporate, exercising throughout the whole of Saorstát Eireann any function of government or discharging throughout the whole of Saorstát Eireann any public duties in relation to public administration,

which copy shall falsely purport to have been printed under the superintendence or the authority of the Stationery Office or to have been published by or by the authority of the Stationery Office shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable on conviction thereof to suffer penal servitude for any term not exceeding seven years or imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

(2) Every person who shall print or publish any document which purports to be a copy of an Act of the Oireachtas or of any such proclamation, order, rule, regulation, byelaw or other official document as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section and which is in any material respect (whether by addition, omission, or otherwise) not a true copy of such Act or document shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable on conviction thereof to suffer penal servitude for any term not exceeding seven years or imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

(3) If any person shall tender in evidence in any Court of Justice or any legal proceedings a copy of any Act of the Oireachtas or of any such order, rule, regulation, byelaw, or other official document as is mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section which copy purports and is represented by such person to have been printed under the superintendence or the authority of the Stationery Office or to have been published by or by the authority of the Stationery Office and was to the knowledge of such person not so printed or not so published, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to suffer penal servitude for any term not exceeding five years or imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

(4) If any person shall tender in evidence in any Court of Justice or in any legal proceedings a document which purports and is represented by such person to be a copy of an Act of the Oireachtas or of any such proclamation, order, rule, regulation, byelaw, or other official document as is mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section and is to the knowledge of such person in any material respect (whether by addition, omission, or otherwise) not a true copy of such Act or document, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and shall be liable on conviction thereof to suffer penal servitude for any term not exceeding five years or imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.