§ 19-7-12 — Photographic copies of business and public records.

If any business, institution, member of a profession or calling, or any department or agency of government, in the regular course of business or activity has kept or recorded any memorandum, writing, entry, print, representation, or combination thereof, of any act, transaction, occurrence, or event, and in the regular course of business has caused any or all of the same to be recorded, copied, or reproduced by any photographic, photostatic, microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic, or other process which accurately reproduces or forms a durable medium for so reproducing the original, the original may be destroyed in the regular course of business unless held in a custodial or fiduciary capacity or unless its preservation is required by law. Such reproduction, when satisfactorily identified is as admissible in evidence as the original itself in any judicial or administrative proceeding whether the original is in existence or not and an enlargement or facsimile of such reproduction is likewise admissible in evidence if the original reproduction is in existence and available for inspection under direction of court. The introduction of a reproduced record, enlargement, or facsimile, does not preclude admission of the original. This section shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose of making uniform the law of those states which enact or adopt it. This section may be cited as the Uniform Photographic Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence Act.

Legislative History

Supreme Court Rule adopted March 23, 1950; SDC Supp 1960, § 36.1003.