Rule 2:1002.REQUIREMENT OF PRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL

Rule 2:1002 is the core requirement behind the best-evidence article: to prove the content of a writing, a party must produce the original. That requirement targets proof of what a writing says — its content — not every situation where a writing happens to be relevant. If a witness testifies to an event she observed and mentions that she later wrote it down, the rule does not force production of that note, because the content of the writing itself is not what proves the fact.

The rule’s force comes with a broad qualifier: the original is required except as otherwise provided in these Rules, other Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, or a Virginia statute. That qualifier does most of the practical work, because the exceptions found in Rule 2:1004 (originals lost, unobtainable, or held by an opponent, or the writing being collateral) and Rule 2:1005 (various categories of admissible copies) apply often enough that the original-production requirement operates more as a default than an absolute rule.

Rule 2:1002 traces back to a historical concern about the accuracy of handwritten copies before mechanical and electronic reproduction became reliable and common. Modern practice under Rules 2:1004 and 2:1005 reflects that shift, admitting copies far more often than the strict letter of Rule 2:1002 alone might suggest.