At length, Lord Hardwicke, in one of the cases the most solemnly argued,
that has been in man's memory, with the aid of the greatest learning at
the bar, and with the aid of all the learning on the bench, both bench
and bar being then supplied with men of the first form, declared from
the bench, and in concurrence with the rest of the Judges, and with the
most learned of the long robe, the able council on the side of the old
restrictive principles making no reclamation, "that the judges and sages
of the law have laid it down that there is but ONE general rule of
evidence,--_the best that the nature of the case will admit_."[51] This,
then, the master rule, that governs all the subordinate rules, does in
reality subject itself and its own virtue and authority _to the nature
of the case_, and leaves no rule at all of an independent, abstract, and
substantive quality. Sir Dudley Ryder, (then Attorney-General,
afterwards Chief-Justice,) in his learned argument, observed, that "it
is extremely proper that there should be _some_ general rules in
relation to evidence; but _if exceptions were not allowed to them, it
would be better to demolish all the general rules_. There is no general
rule without exception that we know of but this,--that _the best
evidence shall be admitted which the nature of the case will afford_.
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