Chapter 889

CHAPTER 889

DOCUMENTARY AND RECORD EVIDENCE

889.01   Publication by state as evidence of laws.

889.02   Publication by other states and United States as evidence of laws and regulations.

889.03   Copies certified by state law librarian; fees.

889.04   County and municipal ordinances.

889.05   Common law of sister states.

889.06   Alien laws.

889.07   Court records and copies.

889.08   Copies, how certified, presumptions.

889.09   Certification of nonfiling.

889.10   Official certificates, etc.

889.11   Reporter’s transcript as evidence.

889.13   Transcript of municipal court records.

889.14   Proof of unrecorded proceedings before municipal judge.

889.15   Proceedings of other courts as evidence.

889.16   Judgment of foreign justice.

889.17   Conveyances and record thereof.

889.18   Official records.

889.19   Pedigree recitals in deeds and wills.

889.23   Acknowledged writings, evidence.

889.24   Conveyance, how proved.

889.241   How made when grantor refuses.

889.242   How, when witnesses dead.

889.243   Witnesses, how subpoenaed; neglect to appear.

889.28   Proof of age.

889.29   Photographic copies of business records as evidence.

889.01 889.01 Publication by state as evidence of laws. Books, pamphlets and other documents purporting to be printed by the state as copies of its statutes, legislative acts and resolutions, senate and assembly journals or orders, rules, regulations or decisions of any of its boards, departments, commissions or agencies, are prima facie evidence that they are such publications as they purport to be, and are correct copies of such statutes, acts, resolutions, journals, orders, rules, regulations and decisions, respectively; and such printed journals of said houses, respectively, are prima facie evidence of their proceedings. Electronic documents purporting to be published by the legislative reference bureau under ss. 35.095 (3) (a), 35.18 (1) (b), and 35.93 as copies of Wisconsin’s statutes, legislative acts, or administrative rules are prima facie evidence that they are such publications as they purport to be and are correct copies of such statutes, legislative acts, and administrative rules.

889.01 History History: 2013 a. 20.

889.02 889.02 Publication by other states and United States as evidence of laws and regulations. Books, pamphlets and other documents purporting to be printed by the United States or any state or territory thereof as copies of its statutes, congressional or legislative acts and resolutions or as copies of orders, rules, regulations or decisions of any state or federal board, department, commission or agency, are presumptive evidence of such statutes, acts, resolutions, orders, rules, regulations or decisions.

889.03 889.03 Copies certified by state law librarian; fees. Matter contained in any book or pamphlet in the state law library, purporting to be a copy of the opinion of any court, or of any statute, law, act or resolution of any state, territory, the United States, or any foreign country, certified by the state law librarian, is prima facie evidence of the contents of such opinion, statute, law, act or resolution. The fee for such certification is the same as that provided for similar certification by the clerk of the supreme court.

889.03 History History: 1987 a. 50.

889.04 889.04 County and municipal ordinances. Matter entered or recorded in any ordinance, record book, or other format authorized under ss. 59.23 (2) (b), 60.33 (1) and (2), 61.25 (3) and 62.09 (11) (c) or printed in any newspaper, book, pamphlet, or other form purporting to be so published, entered or recorded by any county, town, city or village in this state as a copy of its ordinance, bylaw, resolution or regulation, is prima facie evidence thereof; and after 3 years from the date of such publication, entry or recording such book or pamphlet shall be conclusive proof of the regularity of the adoption and publication of the ordinance, bylaw, resolution or regulation.

889.04 History History: 1975 c. 114; 1983 a. 532 s. 36; 1995 a. 201; 2013 a. 373.

889.04 Annotation When the proof of publication of an ordinance offered at trial did not textually conform to the exhibit that was tendered as the ordinance, the city clerk’s testimony that the purported ordinance was continuously in the possession of the city’s keeper of documents, along with the clerk’s identification of the city’s “Record of Council Meetings and Actions” that recited the passage of the ordinance, raised a presumption of regularity. That presumption was conclusive under this section. City of Lake Geneva v. Smuda, 75 Wis. 2d 532, 249 N.W.2d 783 (1977).

889.04 Annotation This section applies only to procedural errors in the adoption process. County board approval of a town zoning ordinance is not part of the adoption process. Stahl v. Town of Spider Lake, 149 Wis. 2d 230, 441 N.W.2d 250 (Ct. App. 1989).

889.04 Annotation In order for a charter ordinance to be entered or recorded under this section, the procedures of s. 66.0101 must be followed, which include a two-thirds vote of approval by the common council, publication of notices, filing of a certified copy with the secretary of state, and a 60-day waiting period to allow a referendum petition to be filed. Keller v. Kraft, 2005 WI App 102, 281 Wis. 2d 784, 698 N.W.2d 843, 04-1315.

889.05 889.05 Common law of sister states. The unwritten or common law of any state or territory of the United States may be proved by parol evidence, and by the books of reports of cases adjudged in its courts.

889.06 889.06 Alien laws. Foreign laws may be proved by parol evidence; but if it shall appear that the law in question is contained in a written statute or code the court may reject any evidence of such law that is not accompanied by a copy thereof.

889.07 889.07 Court records and copies. The original records, papers and files in or concerning any action or proceeding of any nature or description in any court of the state, being produced by the legal custodian thereof, shall be receivable in evidence whenever relevant; and a certified copy thereof shall be received with like effect as the original.

889.08 889.08 Copies, how certified, presumptions.

889.08(1) (1) Whenever a certified copy is allowed by law to be evidence, the copy shall be certified by the legal custodian of the original to have been compared by the custodian with the original, and to be a true copy thereof or a correct transcript therefrom, or to be a photograph of the original. The certificate must be under the custodian’s official seal or under the seal of the court, public body or board, whose custodian the custodian is, when the custodian, court, body or board is required to have or keep such seal.

889.08(2) (2) The executive officer, secretary or chief clerk of any state agency, and in agencies headed by one person, the head of the agency or his or her deputy, are, for the purposes of this section and s. 889.09, the legal custodians of the files and records of their agencies. In agencies having divisions, the heads of divisions are also legal custodians of the files and records of their divisions. “State agency” as used herein means the legislature, any officer, board, commission, department or bureau of the state government and the state historical society.

889.08(3) (3) Any certificate purporting to be signed, or signed and sealed, as authorized by law, shall be presumptive evidence that it was signed by the proper officer, and if sealed, that it has the proper seal affixed, except when the law requires an additional certificate of genuineness.

889.08(4) (4) The seal need not be affixed to a copy of a rule or order made by a court, or of any paper filed therein, when such copy is used in the same court or before any officer thereof.

889.08(5) (5) When a certified copy of any record, paper or instrument of any kind is made receivable in evidence such copy shall have the same effect as evidence as the original.

889.08 History History: 1993 a. 486.

889.08 Annotation When the defendant’s driving record was certified under s. 909.02 (1), the trial court erred in applying certification requirements under s. 889.08 (1). State v. Leis, 134 Wis. 2d 441, 397 N.W.2d 498 (Ct. App. 1986).

889.08 Annotation A copy of an official record may be admitted in evidence if it is certified as correct in accordance with s. 909.02 (4) even though the certification does not comply with s. 889.08 (1). 63 Atty. Gen. 605.

889.09 889.09 Certification of nonfiling.

889.09(1) (1) Whenever any officer to whom the legal custody of any document belongs shall certify, under his or her official seal if he or she shall have any, that the officer has made diligent examination in his or her office for the document, and that it cannot be found or that the document had not been filed or recorded in his or her office, the certificate shall be presumptive evidence of the fact so certified.

889.09(2) (2) The certificate of the legal custodian of the records of any public licensing officer, board or body that the custodian has made diligent examination of the files and records of the custodian’s office and that the custodian can find no record of a license issued to a named person or that none has been issued to such person, specifying the kind of license in question, shall be evidence that none has been issued.

889.09 History History: 1993 a. 486.

889.10 889.10 Official certificates, etc. When a public officer is required or authorized by law to make a certificate or affidavit touching an act performed by the officer or to a fact ascertained by the officer in the course of the officer’s official duty and to file or deposit it in a public office such certificate or affidavit when so filed or deposited shall be received as presumptive evidence of the facts therein stated unless its effect is declared by some special provision of law.

889.10 History History: 1993 a. 486.

889.11 889.11 Reporter’s transcript as evidence. Any writing certified by the official reporter of any court to have been carefully compared by the reporter with the reporter’s minutes of testimony and proceedings taken on any trial or hearing in such court, and to be a true and correct transcript of all or a specified portion of such minutes, and to be a correct statement of the evidence and proceedings had on such trial or hearing, shall be received in evidence with the same effect as the oral testimony of such reporter to the facts so certified.

889.11 History History: 1993 a. 486.

889.11 Annotation A partial transcript included in the appeal record by stipulation of the parties could not be considered competent evidence since it did not include a certification by a shorthand reporter. Fells v. State, 65 Wis. 2d 525, 223 N.W.2d 507 (1974).