Title: What is the Best Evidence Rule? | uslawessentials
Headings: What is the Best Evidence Rule?
What is the Best Evidence Rule?
The Best Evidence Rule: Requirement of the Original
Don’t Get Tricked
What if there is no Original Document?
Exam Tip
Get a Civ Pro Quiz Ebook!
United States Law: An Introduction for International Students

Content: The receipt itself is the best evidence of what was actually written on the receipt. Let’s say Patty wants to testify that Fred sent her a photograph of Fred breaking a car window. If a lawyer asks Patty to testify about what was in the photograph, the Requirement of the Original rule should apply. We should enter the photograph into evidence. What if there is no Original Document? In some cases it’s just impossible to enter the original document. Let’s say a party lost his receipt or the photograph is gone. Now the rule will require the party to explain why he can’t enter the original into evidence and the court might choose to accept secondary evidence instead. Please look at Federal Rule of Evidence 1004 for circumstances where a court will likely admit secondary evidence. Among other things, Rule 1004 provides that secondary evidence will be accepted if the original was lost or destroyed but not as a result of bad faith action by the party that seeks to testify about its contents.