§ 30.04 DEFINITION OF "WRITING" AND "ORIGINAL"

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 30.04. DEFINITION OF "WRITING" AND "ORIGINAL"

[A] "Writings" Defined

Rule 1001(a) defines writings and recordings broadly. The definition is intended to include writings produced from modern photographic and computer systems.³⁰ The term "writing" also encompasses artwork, engineering drawings, architectural designs,³¹ and a GPS display.³² In addition, inscribed chattels (e.g., tombstones) come within the definition of a writing, but, because of their nature, the trial court has more discretion in determining whether the original need be produced.³³

[B] "Originals" Defined

Rule 1001(d) defines an original as the writing or recording itself or any "counterpart intended to have the same effect by a person who executed or issued it." The rule employs an intent test to determine whether a writing is an original.

In most instances, what is an original will be self-evident. Note, however, that there may be more than one original.³⁴ "A carbon copy of a contract executed in duplicate becomes an original, as does a sales ticket carbon copy given to a customer."³⁵ In addition, "what is an original for some purposes may be a duplicate for others. Thus a bank's microfilm record of checks cleared is the original as a record. However, a print offered as a copy of a check whose contents are in controversy is a duplicate."³⁶ If, for example, a defendant charged with submitting fraudulent expense vouchers used photocopies of expense receipts to support the reimbursement claim, the photocopies are the originals because they are the relevant documents — the ones submitted for reimbursement.³⁷

Computer records. Rule 1001(d) contains a specific provision on computer-generated writings: "any printout — or other output readable by sight — if it accurately reflects the information."³⁸

Photographs. Rule 1001(d) provides that the original of a photograph "includes the negative or a print from it."³⁹ The federal drafters justified this definition by noting that, "[w]hile strictly speaking the original of a photograph might be thought to be only the negative, practicality and common usage require that any print from the negative be regarded as an original."⁴⁰

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Notes:

^[30] Fed. R. Evid. 1001 advisory committee's note ("Present day techniques have expanded methods of storing data, yet the essential form which the information ultimately assumes for usable purposes is words and figures. Hence the considerations underlying the rule dictate its expansion to include computers...