Words / B / Law

best evidence rule

noun

C1CEFR level
80/100Rarity: very rare
TechnicalRegister

The requirement that the original of a document be produced to prove its contents unless its absence is satisfactorily explained.

Under the best evidence rule, hand up the signed original, not a scan someone retyped afterwards.

Similar: original document rule

Topic: Evidence & procedure in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Evidence & procedure