When Power Goes Wrong · Evidence & Proof Ledger · Part 27

What makes an email, file, screenshot or metadata trail usable evidence?

Electronic records can be admissible evidence, but relevance and authenticity still matter. The Evidence Act contains specific rules for documents and material produced or retrieved by machines or technical processes.

Modern public-authority cases are often proved through emails, document-management systems, audit logs, file histories, spreadsheets, text messages and metadata rather than one formal memorandum.

Evidence Act s 137 permits evidence produced, displayed, retrieved or collated by a machine, device or technical process and creates a rebuttable presumption where the process ordinarily does what is asserted. Section 130 also allows documents to be offered without necessarily calling a witness in specified circumstances.

The Public Records Act adds a different point: public offices and local authorities must create and maintain full and accurate records of their affairs and keep controlled records accessible until lawful disposal.

A screenshot is not self-explanatory.Preserve the native file, date/time information, sender/recipient fields, system source, export method and surrounding thread where possible. The more a document's origin is disputed, the more important provenance becomes.

RelevanceWhat disputed fact does the record tend to prove?

AuthenticityIs it what the party says it is?

ProvenanceWhere did it come from and how was it retrieved?

IntegrityHas the original/native record and contextual metadata been preserved?

The evidential value of a digital record is strongest when its content and its provenance point to the same conclusion.

Evidence statuteEvidence Act 2006, ss 13, 130–138.

Recordkeeping statutePublic Records Act 2005, ss 17–18.

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