Rule 321. Hearings and Evidence.
The magisterial district judge shall be bound by the rules of evidence, except that a bill, estimate, receipt, or statement of account that appears to have been made in the regular course of business may be introduced in evidence by any party without affidavit or other evidence of its truth, accuracy, or authenticity.
Comment The exception to the rules of evidence provided by this rule was inserted because the Pennsylvania statutes making certain business entries admissible in evidence apparently do not apply to bills, receipts, and the like that are made in the regular course of business but are not made as ‘‘records.’’ See 42 Pa.C.S. § 6108. The fact that this exception permits the introduction of these items of evidence without affidavit or other evidence of their truth, accuracy, or authenticity does not, of course, preclude the introduction of evidence contradicting them. The exception was deemed necessary because the items of evidence made admissible thereby are probably the proofs most commonly used in minor judiciary proceedings. See Rules 350D(2) and 351(d) for additional exceptions applicable to appeals from automated work zone speed enforcement violations and actions filed pursuant to 75 Pa.C.S. § 3345.1(i.1), relating to civil violations for passing a stopped school bus with flashing red signal lights and an activated side stop signal arm.
Source The provisions of this Rule 321 amended April 25, 1979, effective May 25, 1979, 9 Pa.B. 1499; amended April 12, 2022, effective October 1, 2022, 52 Pa.B. 2357; amended February 10, 2023, effective April 11, 2023, 53 Pa.B. 1057. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (410614) to (410615).
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
