Civil Litigation-Physical Evidence
Documents and physical objects are frequently offered as exhibits or as evidence at trial. The first inquiry in regard to any document or other physical object is whether it is authentic. A document or object is authentic if it has been proven to be what it appears to be. If a will is presented to the court as an exhibit and is offered as the will of John Jones, then before that document can be entered into as evidence (shown to the jury), a witness will need to confirm that it is the will of John Jones and that the document bears his signature. That type of testimony establishes the authenticity of the document—simply that it is what it appears to be.
From a common sense point of view, lay people looking at that may say that it has the name at the top indicating that it is the Last Will and Testament of John Jones, it bears the signature of John Jones, and the signature appears to be authentic. Based upon all of that, common sense would suggest that the document is what it appears to be—the Last Will and Testament of John Jones. The court, however, normally requires more than simply the appearance of validity. Typically, a witness will need to testify that the document is in fact the Last Will and Testament of John Jones and the witness may have to testify as to how he or she knows that is so.
Once the authenticity of a document has been established, there may be other objections that could be made regarding that document. Any objections as to relevance and privilege will have to be dealt with.
