The qualification of commercial books as evidence

Commercial books are recorded all transactions of commercial enterprise in, are arranged in Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102. Apart from the Turkish Commercial Code, provisions relating to trade books are included in various other codes such as code of tax procedure, cooperative law. Trade books are important in determining the financial status of commercial enterprise as well as the receivables and liabilities of the enterprise. Banks and the third parties who want to do business with the enterprise can receive information about the enterprise through the trading books. Apart from these, an important function of the commercial books is that they can be used as evidence. Unlike the Commercial Code No 6762, the provisions of proof with commercial books have not been included in Turkish Commercial Code No 6102. Instead of Turkish Commercial Code, these provisions are regulated in Code of Civil Procedure No 6100. Although the provisions of evidence with the commercial books that have arranged in the Code of Civil Procedure No 6100 are similar to the provisions of evidence with the commercial books that were contained in the Commercial Code No 6762, these provisions are not the same as each other. Because legislator has brought significant amendments relating to the provisions of proof with the commercial books which are included in the Civil Procedure Code No 6100. In order to utilize the commercial books as special evidence under the Civil Code Procedure, some general conditions must be established. Except for the general conditions, the use of commercial books as evidence in favor of its owner is bound to certain conditions in the Civil Procedure Code. For this reason, commercial books that are kept in accordance with the specified conditions in Code of Civil Procedure in article 222 will be evidence in favor of the owner. However, some of these conditions envisaged in the relevant article may lead to inequivalent consequences in practice. The legislator has not provided any special circumstances for the commercial books to be evidence against the owner. Therefore, the commercial books that are not kept in accordance with the conditions in law will be evidence against the owner. Key Words: Commercial Books, Evidence, Proof, The Turkish Commercial Code, The Civil Procedure Code