Judgment No. SC 47/18
Civil Appeal No. SC 695/15
answer in the requested documents. This is the kind of disclosure that courts frown upon. In Arab
Monetary Fund v Hashim and Others [1992] 2 All ER 911 (No5), HOFFMAN
J had occasion to
comment on the oppressive effect of a subpoena duces tecum lacking specificity. This is what he
had to say:!
“What he did say, however, was that the terms of Peter Gibson J’s order were so general
in identifying the categories of documents to be disclosed that they were an oppressive use
of the Bankers Trust procedure against a third party. They required the solicitors to go
through their documents and make the sort of selection which would normally be required
of a party to the action by way of discovery. It is of course well established that a third
party liable only to be called as a witness or under subpoena duces tecum cannot be required
to produce documents by relevance to issues but must be given more specific detail of what
documents are required ... the specificity of the order can in my view be sufficiently dealt
with by making amendments to the schedule.”
A subpoena duces tecum cannot be used indiscriminately, as though one was on a
"fishing expedition.” Only specific documents relevant to the case can be requested. General,
sweeping requests are improper and this is one such request. As the Second District Court of
Appeal in America said in Walter V. Page, 638 So.2d 1030 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994):
“We agree with the appellant that the subpoena duces tecum was too broad. The rule
authorizing a subpoena duces tecum requires some degree of specificity, and the documents
or papers sought should be designated with sufficient particularity to suggest their
existence
and
materiality.
Palmer
v.
Servis,
393
So.2d
653
(Fla.
5th
DCA
1981);
Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.350(a). The subpoena in the instant case was too broad in seeking virtually
all of appellant's personal financial documents. The subpoena duces tecum is not the
equivalent of a search warrant, and should not be used as a fishing expedition to require a
witness to produce broad categories of documents which the party can search to find what
may be wanted.”
These remarks are apposite. A court should be wary of permitting litigants to use the
machinery of a subpoena duces tecum to request large amounts of information in the hopes that
1 At 916g-h
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