Supreme Court Library Act 1968

A lawyer may give an historic document to the committee, without obtaining the consent of an interested person for the historic document, if—

giving the historic document—

is not contrary to an express instruction given to the lawyer by the interested person; and

is unlikely to adversely affect the interested person; and

it is not reasonably practicable to obtain the consent of the interested person.

The committee must take reasonable steps to preserve the historic document after receiving it.

The giving of an historic document to the committee does not affect—

any right a person may have to recover possession of the historic document; or

legal professional privilege attaching to the historic document, or the information contained in the historic document.

The committee may use or disclose an historic document given to the committee only if—

the use or disclosure is for historical or educational purposes; and

the historic document is at least 100 years old, or if the historic document is a copy of another document, the other document is at least 100 years old.

In this section—

give includes loan.

historic document means a document that is considered by the committee to have sufficient historical significance to justify its preservation, and includes a copy of the document.

interested person, for an historic document, means a person having a legal right to object to a lawyer giving the document to the committee.