preferential rule

preferential rule. Evidence. A rule that prefers one kind of evidence to another. • It may work provisionally, as when a tribunal refuses to consider one kind of evidence until another kind (presumably better) is shown to be unavailable, or it may work absolutely, as when the tribunal refuses to consider anything but the better kind of evidence. [Cases: Criminal Law 398. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 833–836, 843–844.]

“There are only three or four … sets of [preferential] rules. There is a rule preferring the production of the original of a document, in preference to a copy. There is a rule requiring the attesting witness to a will to be summoned to evidence its execution. And there is a rule preferring the magistrate’s official report of testimony taken before him. Then there are a few miscellaneous rules, such as the officially certified enrollment of a statute, etc.” John H. Wigmore, A Students’ Textbook of the Law of Evidence 219 (1935).


专业法律词汇 词条贡献者
双语律师郭敏,国际知名商学院金融专业,擅长翻译各类与金融衍生品与结构化产品相关的法律文件。
Scroll to Top