2.3 On the Basis of Probative Value: Primary and Secondary Evidence

The primary-secondary divide (the best-evidence rule's application): Primary evidence — the original document itself: the executed deed, the original register, the first record — the best proof of its contents (the original's production the rule); Secondary evidence — the copies and substitutes: the certified copies, the photostats, the counterpart, the witness's account of the contents. The rule: primary first; secondary admissible only on the foundation — the original's loss or destruction (duly proved), the original's possession by the opponent who fails to produce it on notice, the original's production impracticability — the secondary's admission is conditional, not free. The modern faces: the digital originals (the printout and the data — the electronic record's best-evidence adaptation of the Electronic Transactions Act 2063); the duplicates' growing reliability (the weight-not-admissibility trend — the certified copies' everyday acceptance in practice). The probative-value ladder (the further distinctions): Prima facie evidence — sufficient until rebutted (the presumption's evidence); Conclusive evidence — irrebuttable (the law's fixed inference); Corroborative evidence — the supporting (confirming an independent item); Hearsay — the secondhand (Unit 3.3's exclusion and its statutory exceptions); Direct testimony vs. circumstantial proof (2.1's axis in the value's terms). Exam Focus Long questions: (i) Direct vs. circumstantial — definitions, the chain's logic, the standard for conviction, the merits of each; (ii) The physical-structure trio with the modern fourth…