An ancient document, in the
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
of
evidence
Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...
, refers to both a means of authentication for a piece of
documentary evidence
Documentary evidence is any evidence that is, or can be, introduced at a trial in the form of documents, as distinguished from oral testimony. Documentary evidence is most widely understood to refer to writings on paper (such as an invoice, a co ...
, and an exception to the
hearsay rule.
Authentication
With respect to authentication, an "ancient document" is one that may be deemed authentic without a
witness
In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know.
A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...
to attest to the circumstances of its creation because its age suggests that it is unlikely to have been falsified in anticipation of the
litigation
A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...
in which it is introduced.
Under the American
Federal Rules of Evidence
First adopted in 1975, the Federal Rules of Evidence codify the evidence law that applies in United States federal courts. In addition, many states in the United States have either adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence, with or without local v ...
("FRE"), a document is deemed authentic if it is:
#at least twenty years old;
#in a condition that makes it free from suspicion concerning its authenticity; and
#found in a place where such a writing was likely to be kept.
Many
states
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
have similar rules, but may limit the application of the doctrine to specific ''kinds'' of documents such as ''dispositive instruments'' (primarily conveyances, deeds, and wills), and may require the documents to be even older.
By admitting an ancient document into evidence, it is presumed only that the document ''is'' what it purports to be, but there are no presumptions about the truth of the document's ''contents''. A jury can still decide that the author of the document was lying or mistaken when the author wrote it.
Hearsay
Ancient documents also present an exception to the hearsay rule. FRE (16) applies this exception to all documents prepared before January 1, 1998. Because of their age, they may be presented as evidence of the truth of any statements contained therein. Many states follow this rule as well, but again most limit it to documents that dispose of property.{{citation needed, date=March 2025
References
Evidence law