Comparative Civil Procedure
Procedure & Regularity for Accuracy, True Dispute Resolution and Happiness

The Evidentiary Value of Copies of Ancient Documents Where the Originals Are Unavailable (A Critical Review of Supreme Court Branch 3 Judgment No. 9509970909100254, Dated August 3, 2016)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Hassan Mohseni

Professor of Civil & Commercial Law, Private &. Islamic Law Department, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences University of Tehran

Abstract
If a claim rests upon an ancient document and the original is unavailable, the court must investigate the document's existence rather than insisting on the production of the original. If the court deems the document reliable based on other oral and written evidence—or if other documents reference it and the subject matter of the document has indeed materialized (such as a delivered object of sale, a taken-into-possession endowment, an endowment that has been acted upon, or a couple living in a marital union)—then the procedural rules regarding the authenticity of the document are set aside in favor of the substantive law of proof. Under the substantive law of proof, the judge is the central figure in the evidentiary process; the litigants assist the judge, who possesses investigative powers and may undertake any inquiry or measure necessary to uncover the truth. The Court proposed an approach that effectively obviated the need to produce the original. In this case—which involved two stages of cassation review—the Third Branch initially endeavored to secure the original document and complete the investigation, issuing relevant directives; subsequently, however, it deemed the conscientious conviction of the adjudicating judges regarding the document's reliability to be sufficient.

Keywords

Old document
photocopy
original copy
Subjects
Comparative Civil Procedure
Volume 2, Special Number
Commemorative Volume Honoring His Excellency The Judge Hassan Ghaffarpour Maraghi President of 3rd Branch of the Supreme Court, Iran
2026

  • Receive Date 26 September 2026
  • Accept Date 27 September 2026
  • Publish Date 23 October 2026

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