CHAPTER 11-7
AUTHENTICATION AND IDENTIFICATION

11-7-1 Requirements.

The requirements of authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims.

11-7-2 Self-authentication.

Extrinsic evidence of authenticity as a condition precedent to admissibility is not required with respect to the following:

(A)    A document bearing a seal purporting to be that of the United States, any Indian tribe, state, district, commonwealth, territory, insular possession, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, political subdivision, department, officer, or agency and a signature purporting to be an attestation or execution.

(B)    A document purporting to bear the signature in his official capacity of an officer or employee of any entity included in Subsection 11-7-2(A), having no seal, if a public officer having a seal and having official duties in the district or political subdivision of the officer or employee certifies under seal that the signer has the official capacity and that the signature is genuine.

(C)    A document purporting to be executed or attested in his official capacity by a person authorized by the laws of a foreign country to make the execution or attestation, and accompanied by a final certification as to genuineness of the signature and official position:

(1)    of the executing or attesting person, or

(2)    of any foreign official whose certificate of genuineness of signature and official position related to the execution or attestation or is in a chain of certificates of genuineness of signature and official position relating to the execution or attestation.

A final certification may be made by a secretary of embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice consul, or consular agent of the United States, or a diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country assigned or accredited to the United States. If reasonable opportunity has been given to all parties to investigate the authenticity and accuracy of official documents, the Court may, for good cause shown, order that they be treated as presumptively authentic without final certification or permit them to be evidenced by an attested summary with or without final certification.

(D)    A copy of an official record or report or entry, or of a document authorized by law to be recorded or filed and actually recorded or filed in a public office, including data compilations in any form, certified as correct by the custodian or other person authorized to make the certification, by certificate complying with Subsection 11-7-2(A), 11-7-2(B), or 11-7-2(C) or complying with any act or ordinance of the Tribal Council or rule prescribed by the Court of Appeals pursuant to statutory authority.

(E)    Books, pamphlets, or other publications purporting to be issued by public authority.

(F)    Printed materials purporting to be newspapers or periodicals.

(G)    Inscription, signs, tags, or labels purporting to have been affixed in the course of business and indicating ownership, control, or origin.

(H)    Documents accompanied by a certificate of acknowledgment executed in the manner provided by law by a notary public or other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments or administer oaths.

(I)    Commercial paper, signatures thereon, and documents relating thereto to the extent provided by general commercial law.

(J)    Any signature, document, or other matter declared by act or ordinance of the Trial Council to be presumptively or prima facie genuine or authentic.

11-7-3 Subscribing Witness Testimony Unnecessary.

The testimony of a subscribing witness is not necessary to authenticate a writing unless required by the laws of the jurisdiction whose laws govern the validity of the writing.