PAGE c. 68 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, ss. 18, 19, 20, 23 319 38 & 39 Vict. c. 17 8. 81. c. 25 PAGE 486, 819 564 c. 73, s. 23. 564, 874, 970 486 22, 811 c. 102, ss. 19, 20, 21 . ss. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 811 5:5 33 Vict. c. 14. 33 & 34 Vict. c. 23, s. 1 824-827 232, 242 229, 232, 242 c. 60, ss. 16, 21 463, 646 A DIGEST OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL CASES. THE general rules of evidence are the same in criminal and in civil proceedings. "There is no difference as to the rules of evidence, says Abbott, J., "between criminal and civil cases: what may be received in the one may be received in the other; and what is rejected in the one ought to be rejected in the other." R. v. Watson, 2 Stark. N. P. C. 155, 3 E. C. L.; R. v. Murphy, 8 C. & P. 306, 34 E. C. L. The enactments, however, of the Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, which materially altered the rules of evidence in certain cases, are, by sect. 103, confined to courts of civil judicature, though some of the provisions of that statute have been extended to criminal cases by subsequent legislation. Best evidence. It is the first and most signal rule of evidence that the best evidence of which the case is capable shall be given; for if the best evidence be not produced, it affords a presumption that it *would make against the party neglecting to produce it. Gilb. [*2 |