Short answer. It covers more than paper. Rule 130, Section 2 defines documents as writings, recordings, photographs, or any material containing letters, words, sounds, numbers, figures, symbols, or their equivalent, offered as proof of their contents. Photographs expressly include still pictures, drawings, stored images, x-ray films, motion pictures, or videos.
What the law says
Documents as evidence consist of writings, recordings, photographs or any material containing letters, words, sounds, numbers, figures, symbols, or their equivalent.
Rule 130, Section 2 — Documentary evidence. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Photographs include still pictures, drawings, stored images, x-ray films, motion pictures or videos.
Rule 130, Section 2 — Documentary evidence. Read the full provision →
A broad, medium-neutral definition
Section 2 defines documentary evidence by content and purpose rather than by physical form: writings, recordings, photographs, or any material containing letters, words, sounds, numbers, figures, symbols, or their equivalent, or other modes of written expression, so long as they are offered as proof of their contents. This means an audio recording, a spreadsheet of figures, or a stored digital file can all potentially qualify as documentary evidence under this definition.
Why 'offered as proof of their contents' matters
The definition's key qualifier is purpose — the material must be offered to prove what it contains. The same photograph could be object evidence in one case, if offered merely to show what it depicts as a physical item, and documentary evidence in another, if offered to prove the content it records. A single item is not fixed permanently into one evidentiary category; its classification depends on the specific purpose for which a party is offering it in a given case.
Photographs specifically defined
Because photographs sit at the boundary between object and documentary evidence, Section 2 spells out what the term covers here: still pictures, drawings, stored images, x-ray films, motion pictures, and videos. This wide definition means modern digital and stored image formats fall within the same documentary evidence framework as traditional photographs. By explicitly covering stored images and videos, the definition keeps pace with how photographic and recorded evidence is actually created and preserved today.
Why format-neutrality matters today
A definition tied to content and purpose, rather than to a fixed list of physical formats like paper writings, keeps documentary evidence relevant as the ways people record information keep changing. Text messages, emails, digital photographs, and audio files can all potentially qualify as documentary evidence under this framework, so long as they are offered to prove what they contain, without needing a separate rule written specifically for each new format that comes along. Even under this broad, format-neutral definition, the material still has to satisfy the ordinary requirements for authentication and relevance before it is actually admitted; qualifying as a 'document' under Section 2 is only the threshold question, not a guarantee that any particular writing, recording, or photograph will be received in evidence.