12/22 What is material and what superfluous will depend upon the case. Thus if it is alleged that a suit of clothes was obtained by the defendant at a certain time, his obtaining the clothes is the material fact and the time may be superfluous or immaterial. But if a note is in controversy its date is material as establishing its identity. _"The evidence must be the best of which the case is susceptible."_ Thus, in case of a written instrument the best evidence is the instrument itself; the next best, a copy of it; the next, oral statement of its contents. And a copy will not be accepted if the original can be produced. |