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Evidence: Basic Overview

 Anything tangible or intangible may be evidence. The issue is it relevant, competent, probative and is it admissible evidence. Rules of evidence are, as the name indicates, are the rules by which a court in a determines what evidence is admissible in legal court proceedings such as a trial or other quasi legal proceedings such as an arbitration proceeding.

The law of Evidence is the system of rules and standards by which the admission of proof at the trial of a lawsuit is regulated.  But it should be emphasized that this trial stage, when proof is offered and the rules of evidence come into play, is a late stage in a long process.  Thus, every case which will be encountered, dealing with a dispute over a rule of evidence or its application, presents a situation in which the lawyers concerned have been required to shoulder many other tasks in the planning and production of testimony, and in anticipation of problems of presentation of proof at the trial under the law of evidence, long before any question of evidence law is presented to the court. McCormick on Evidence - 3rd Edition, p 1, Edward W. Cleary, Hornbook Series, West Publishing Company 1984. The gathering of evidence is generally accomplished through the discovery process. See California Discovery at California Civil Procedure.Com

More specifically, "the rules of evidence determine the admissibility of evidence, prescribe the qualifications of individuals to be witnesses, and structure the relationships among the various actors at trial.  The study of evidence, however, is not just the study of the rules of evidence.  Those rules, which give form and content to the process of litigation in our culture, are derivative of our society's views on myriad issues, among them:  (1) the appropriate means of resolving disputes; (2) the nature of knowledge, what it means to "know" something, and how knowledge is transmitted to others; (3) the dynamics of small group decision making, and the confidence that we invest in the common person to reach wise and informed judgments that affect the lives of fellow citizens; (4) moral and ethical concerns, such as whether certain individuals (spouses, children, friends) should be required to testify against those close to them, whether convictions in criminal cases, or verdicts in certain civil cases, should be difficult to obtain in order to foster certain values, the extent to which we value repose over correct distribution of wealth (thus determining the difficulty of the hurdle plaintiffs must surmount merely to get a decision on an issue they wish to contest); and (5) the relationship between ideas of justice and efficiency."  An Analytical Approach To Evidence:  Text, Problems, and Cases, Ronald J. Allen, Richard B. Kuhns, Little, Brown and Company, 1, (1989).

 In the U.S., the federal courts follow the Federal Rules of Evidence, The Federal Rule of Evidence are enacted by the U.S. Congress.The state courts generally follow their own rules. See, for example California's evidence rules, Indiana's evidence rules, or Washington's evidence rules. State rules of evidence are generally imposed by the state legislature upon the state courts.

The foundation as to the admissibility of offered in a legal proceeding is relevancy.  In establishing what evidence is admissible, generally many state and the federal rules of evidence concentrate first on the relevancy of the offered evidence. See, for example Article IV of the Federal Rules of Evidence and California Evidence Code Section 350.

Rules of evidence also allocate among the parties the burden of producing evidence and the burden of persuading the court. See, for example Article III of the Federal Rules of Evidence or Division 5 of the California Evidence Code.

The Federal Rules of Evidence also address the admissibility of oral testimony, and Article V of the Federal Rules of Evidence and Division Eight of the California Evidence Code.

In addition to the statutory rules of evidence the U.S. Constitution in some cases impacts the admissibility of evidence. The basic constitutional provisions impacting the admissibility of evidence are the

The initial determination of admissibility is generally made at the trial stage by the trial judge.

Basic Sources of Evidence Law

Federal Material

Federal Rules

• Federal Rules of Evidence
• Federal Rules of Evidence-CE

Federal Judicial Decisions

• U.S. Supreme Court: Recent Decisions on Evidence
• U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals: Recent Decisions on Evidence

State Material

State Statutes

• State Statutes Dealing with Evidence

State Judicial Decisions

• N.Y. Court of Appeals:
  • Recent Decisions on Evidence
  • Commentary from liibulletin-ny
• Appellate Decisions from Other States

Other References

Useful Offnet (or Subscription - $) Sources

• Basic Research Materials: Graham C. Lilly, An Introduction to the Law of Evidence, West Group (1996), McCormick on Evidence - 3rd Edition, Edward W. Cleary, Hornbook Series, West Publishing Company 1984.  California Evidence, Witkin.
• LII Disk Materials

Other Topics Dealing with Court Procedure, Remedies, and Alternatives