Certificate of exhibit (Form 47)

Under rule 435 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), a document used with and mentioned in an affidavit is an exhibit, and every exhibit must carry a letter, number or other identifying mark and a certificate in the approved form, on it or bound with it. Form 47 is that approved certificate. It ties the exhibit to the affidavit it belongs to, so the court can tell exactly which document the deponent was talking about.

When you need it

• You are filing an affidavit (Form 46) that refers to a document such as a letter, contract, invoice, email or photograph.
• You are putting several documents together as one exhibit, or binding exhibits into an exhibit book. A group of different documents may form one exhibit (r 435(3)).
• The proceeding is in the Supreme Court, District Court or Magistrates Courts of Queensland, which all use the UCPR.

1. 1

   Copy the heading from the affidavit

   Use the same court, registry, proceeding number and party names as the affidavit the exhibit belongs to.

2. 2

   Give the exhibit its mark

   Use a letter, number or other identifying mark (r 435(5)(a)), and refer to the exhibit by the same mark in the body of the affidavit. Initials and a number, such as "JS-1", is a common convention.

3. 3

   Identify the affidavit

   State whose affidavit the exhibit is referred to in and the date the affidavit was sworn or affirmed.

4. 4

   Sign it the same way as the affidavit

   The deponent and the witness each sign the certificate in the same way they signed the affidavit (r 435(6)). If the witness certified the affidavit under rule 433 because the deponent could not read it, only the witness signs the certificate (r 435(7)).

• File the exhibits at the same time as the affidavit (r 435(8)).
• Filing on paper with a group of documents or several exhibits: bind them in one or more paginated books, with a certificate at the front of each book and an index immediately after it (r 435(11)).
• Filing electronically with exhibits: also file an index listing the body of the affidavit, each exhibit and its certificate, and the number of pages in each documentary exhibit (r 435(12)).
• Serve the exhibits with the affidavit on the other parties, unless the rules or an order say otherwise.

• Check the mark on every certificate matches the mark used in the affidavit, so there is no doubt which document the deponent is referring to.
• Do not exhibit a document that has already been filed in the proceeding. Rule 435(13) says it must not be made an exhibit again; refer to it in the affidavit in a way that identifies it instead.
• Paginate exhibit books continuously so the court and the other side can find a page quickly.