DE · rules
Del. Super. Ct. Civ. R. 28
Persons before whom depositions may be taken
(a) Within the United States. Within the United States or within a territory or insular possession subject to
the dominion of the United States, depositions shall be taken (1) before an officer authorized to
administer oaths by the laws of the place where the examination is held, or (2) before a person appointed
by the Court in which the action is pending. A person so appointed has power to administer oaths and
take testimony. The term “officer” as used in Rules 30, 31 and 32 includes a person appointed by the
Court or designated by the parties under Rule 29.
(b) In foreign countries. Depositions may be taken in a foreign country (1) pursuant to any applicable
treaty or convention, or (2) pursuant to a letter of request (whether or not captioned a letter rogatory), or
(3) on notice before a person authorized to administer oaths in the place where the examination is held,
either by the law thereof or by the law of the United States, or (4) before a person commissioned by the
Court, and a person so commissioned shall have the power by virtue of the commission to administer any
necessary oath and take testimony. A commission or a letter of request shall be issued on application and
notice and on terms that are just and appropriate. It is not requisite to the issuance of a commission or a
letter of request that the taking of the deposition in any other manner is impracticable or inconvenient;
and both a commission and a letter of request may be issued in proper cases. A notice or commission may
designate the person before whom the deposition is to be taken either by name or descriptive title. A letter
of request may be addressed “To the Appropriate Authority in (here name the country).” When a letter of
request or any other device is used pursuant to any applicable treaty or convention, it shall be captioned in
the form prescribed by that treaty or convention. Evidence obtained in response to a letter of request need
not be excluded merely because it is not a verbatim transcript, because the testimony was not taken under
oath, or because of any similar departure from the requirements for depositions taken within the United
States under these Rules.
(c) Disqualification for interest. No depositions shall be taken before a person who is a relative or
employee or attorney or counsel of any of the parties, or is a relative or employee of such attorney or
counsel, or is financially interested in the action.
(d) Designation of officers. The officers referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) hereof may be designated in
notices or commissions either by name or descriptive title and letters of request may be addressed “To the
Appropriate Authority in (here name the state or country).”
History
Amended, effective Jan. 1, 1965; June 1, 1981; Jan. 1, 1991; Jan. 1, 1995.
Provenance
- Source
- courts.delaware.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-23
- Edition
- 2026-09-23
- Content hash
f7364afa649b118af42b8174bb30584d783e5dd5f7a7210e11e8e74464e201e9
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.