2.2 Best Evidence Must Be Produced

The best-evidence rule: the original — not the copy — the primary source produced where available. The classic application: the documents (the original's production; the secondary evidence only on the original's absence-or-refusal — the loss, the opponent's withholding — the proof's foundations). The modern faces: the digital originals (the printout-and-the-data — the electronic record's best-evidence adaptation of the ETA 2063); the rule's softened core (the duplicates' reliability; the rule's practical decline — the weight-not-admissibility trend).