Section 16.31 Common-Law Exceptions

• Library: Evidence 2017

d. (§16.31) Common-Law Exceptions

The lack of a statutory exception does not preclude the admission of a public record. There are common-law exceptions for the public record to be admitted. For example, a record is admissible to establish the facts in the document if the record is “kept or prepared by a person whose public duty it is to record the facts stated in the document . . . .” State v. Blakeburn, 859 S.W.2d 170, 177 (Mo. App. W.D. 1993). If no statute or ordinance prescribes the manner of keeping the documents, counsel will have to call the clerk or other custodian of the document to identify it and to testify that the person prepared it in the performance of the person’s official duties. Id. at 178. Public documents also qualify under the common-law exception when the records of facts are filed with a governmental body as required by statute, ordinance, rule, or regulation. See, e.g., Hay v. Schwartz, 982 S.W.2d 295, 301 (Mo. App. W.D. 1998). The admission of “opinions” rather than “facts” under the common-law exception has not been decided. See Rodriguez v. Suzuki Motor Corp., 996 S.W.2d 47, 57 (Mo. banc 1999).

Examples of documents admitted under common-law exceptions are:

· A sheriff’s return of service of process, State v. Weber, 814 S.W.2d 298, 302–03 (Mo. App. E.D. 1991)

· A register of the age of students made by a school teacher, Levels v. St. Louis &...