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28 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Real Evidence |
Generally, any evidence which tends to prove or disprove any proposition which is at issue in the case being litigated. |
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two rules of thumb |
only relevant evidence admissible All relevant evidence admissible unless excluded by some other rule or policy |
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Aspect of relevancy: MATERIALITY |
evidence offered upon a matter properly "in issue?" Is matter in dispute or being contested? |
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Aspect of relevancy: PROBTIVENESS |
does evidence logically tend to prove the proposition for which it is being offered. |
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Doctrine of limited admissibility |
Evidence may be admissible for one purpose but not for another. |
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Discretionary exclusion |
judge may prevent admissibility if probative value is substantially outweighed by prejudicial effect. |
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Character evidence |
evidence of a particular human trait such as honesty, carelessness, or violence, or quality of a person's conduct. |
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types of character evidence |
reputation opinion past conduct. |
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impeachment |
evidence of good character vs. evidence of bad character introduction of character evidence v. rebuttal of character evidence. |
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Habit evidence |
routine acts in a particular situation |
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requirements for admissibility of habit evidence |
Must be specific must be routine must be continuous |
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Real evidence |
tangible evidence that is the thing as opposed to a similar thing or object. Can be direct or circumstantial |
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Requirements for admissibility of real evidence |
must be relevant must not be subject to exclusion must be authenticated |
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authentication |
the evidence is what the proponent says it is |
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purposes of authentication |
protect against substitution or introduction of object other than the one testified about prevent contamination and thereby insure that there have been no significant changes in the object's condition. |
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ways of authenticating evidence: TESTIMONY |
if evidence is such that it can be readily identified by witness |
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ways of authenticating evidence: CHAIN OF CUSTODY |
if evidence cannot be readily identified or can be easily confused or is subject to tampering, then must account for custody/control at all relevant times |
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Selected Demonstrative Evidence |
pre-existing -- selected for use at trial, often used for standards of comparison |
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Prepared Demonstrative Evidence |
evidence made specifically for use at trial as an aid, visual or otherwise, for the jury in the fact finding process. |
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Concerns for Documentary Evidence as real Evidence |
authentication best evidence rule doctrine of completeness |
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Direct evidence of authentication |
testimony: subscribing witness or other witnesses who saw document signed. |
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handwriting identification |
evidence examined by non-expert who is familiar with that person's handwriting handwriting expert compares evidence in question with standard of comparison. |
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circumstantial evidence of authentication |
content: probability that a certain person wrote it. |
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authentication by age |
traditional rule: 30 years old and "fair on its face" -- meaning nothing suspicious on face of document and dept in place where such documents are normally kept. federal rule: 20 years old and "fair on its face." |
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self-authenticating documents |
official documents under seal notarized documents certified copies of public documents |
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Documentary evidence: Best Evidence Rule |
"to prove the contents of a writing, the original writing itself must be produced unless it is shown to be unavailable." Does not apply to official records or where party admits contents. applies only to affirmative contents of writing does not apply to absence of contents |
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Justifications for non-production of original writing |
original is lost or destroyed original is unobtainable original in possession of opponent original too voluminous to be practical to produce |
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rules of preference where secondary evidence is allowed |
traditional view: copy of original is first preference federal view: no preference; jury attaches weight it deems appropriate. |
