Talk:Previously Admitted Evidence (SPPA)

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Volume 10, Number 1 (August 1972)

2. Evidence

Section 15 is one of the most notable features of the new Act. It recognizes that tribunals must take a more open approach towards the scope of evidence that can be admitted at a hearing, and that the rules of evidence as applied in the courts are perhaps too restrictive for the administrative process. The section takes a "wide open" approach by providing that any oral testimony or document or other thing is admissible whether under oath or admissible in a court, subject only to four limitations:

(a) it must be relevant to the subject matter of the proceedings;

(b) it must not be unduly repetitious;

(c) it cannot be inadmissible in a court by reason of any privilege under the law of evidence;

(d) it cannot be inadmissible by the statute under which the proceedings arise or any other statute

Therefore, providing the general intent of the section is not undermined by express evidentiary limitations in other statutes, section 15 sanctions a general departure from the strict common law and statutory rules. This will permit tribunals to conduct their proceedings more informally and expeditiously since they will not be hampered by evidentiary objections such as those usually based on the exclusionary hearsay rules of evidence.