For example one might have exhibit 1, exhibit 2, and so on, but also various witness statements. Are these statements themselves also exhibits? Where else can one find references of these sorts of organisational and naming conventions? Where do they come from?
1 Answer
When submitting evidence to the court, basically everything is going to be labeled as an "exhibit," including pieces of physical evidence, photographs, videos, audio recordings, affidavits, deposition transcripts, and so on.
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Where does this convention arise from or where is it defined? Commented Apr 6, 2022 at 22:50
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1It's just a very informal rule, handed down from centuries of experience. There are certainly going to be some jurisdictions that have it committed to writing, but I don't know of anywhere that uses different names for these different categories of evidence.– bdb484Commented Apr 7, 2022 at 10:59
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If there's a specific jurisdiction you're interested in, we may be able to get you a more specific answer.– bdb484Commented Apr 7, 2022 at 11:01
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I’m interested in American and English jurisdictions. Commented Apr 7, 2022 at 12:29
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1That's quite a lot of jurisdictions. The rules are going to vary between and even among them. Some of them may come down to the individual judge's preferences.– bdb484Commented Apr 7, 2022 at 16:41