Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:45 pm on 26 October 2004.
'(1) Any enactment or rule of law relating to the giving of evidence by a spouse applies in relation to a civil partner as it applies in relation to the spouse.
(2) Subsection (1) is subject to any specific amendment made by or under this Act which relates to the giving of evidence by a civil partner.
(3) For the avoidance of doubt, in any such amendment, references to a person's civil partner do not include a former civil partner.
(4) References in subsections (1) and (2) to giving evidence are to giving evidence in any way (whether by supplying information, making discovery, producing documents or otherwise).
(5) Any rule of law—
(a) which is preserved by Article 22(1) of the Criminal Justice (Evidence) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004, and
(b) under which in any proceedings evidence of reputation or family tradition is admissible for the purpose of proving or disproving the existence of a marriage,
is to be treated as applying in an equivalent way for the purpose of proving or disproving the existence of a civil partnership.'.
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