Pmbr-Evidence Points

Front 1

When can prior consistent statements of a witness be brought in to support the witness' testimony at trial?

Back 1

Where the testimony is assailed as a recent fabrication, itmay be confirmed by proof of declarations of the same tenor before the motive to falsify existed.

Front 2

What must exist in order for a dying declaration to be admitted?

(4 things)

Back 2

The declarant must be unavailable.

Only applies to civil cases and homicides.

must concern the cause or circumstances of what he believed to be his impending death

must be made by declarant while believing his death was imminent.

Front 3

As a general rule, character evidence is not admissible in a civil case unless character is "in issue". What are the 4 civil actions in which character is deemed to be "in issue?"

Back 3

1. Defamation
2. Fraud or deceit
3. Negligent Entrustment
4. Tortious assualt and battery when the D claims he acted in self-defense

Front 4

What is the dead man's statute?

Back 4

In any action commenced or defended on behalf of a decedent, any other party surviving shall be disabled from testifying as to any transaction involving the decedent.

Front 5

What is a vicarious admission?

Back 5

Its a statement offered against a party by his agent or servent concerning a matter within the scope of his agency or employment, made during the existence of the relationship. Its admissible.

Front 6

What is an adoptive admission?

Back 6

Its like a party admission but he didn't say it, he acknowledged it. Its a "statement of which the party has manifested his adoption or belief in its truth under circumstances where a reasonable person would deny the statement.

Front 7

When is former testimony admissible?

Back 7

It can be different plaintiffs using, but it has to be the same defendant. That defendant had to have had the chance to interrogate.

Front 8

True or False, "Once a Rapist, Always a Rapist."

Back 8

True

Front 9

What is the pedigree exception?

Back 9

Its another exception to hearsay wherein they allow as evidence testimony of repuation among members of his family by blood, adoption, or marriage, or among his associates, or in the community, concerning a person's birth, adoption, marriage, etc

Front 10

What is the rule on secondary evidence?

Back 10

Its admissible if being offered in good faith that the originals were destroyed by accident or naturally.

Front 11

Distinguish between inferences and presumptions

Back 11

Inferences are ok, because the trier is always at liberty to accept or reject an inferred fact. Presumptions are a major no-no in criminal trials.

Front 12

What is the general rule about character evidence in a civil trial?

Back 12

It is not admissible.

Exception is if it is "in issue"

Exceptions are Defamation, Fraud, Self Defense in an assault and battery situation.

Front 13

Describe judicial notice

Back 13

a judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (1) generally known within the terriroiral jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) capable of accurate and ready determination.

Cannot be an ulitamte fact, that is, a fact which would be determinative of a case.

Front 14

What's another example of when character evidence is admissible in a civil trial?

Back 14

WHen its being offered to impeach! Remember must be in the form of opinion or reputation

Front 15

What parts of a treatise may be read into evidence?

Back 15

The contradictory statements may be read into evidence, but the

Front 16

Can a kid be shown as evidence in a paternity suit that he looks like his dad?

Back 16

YEs.

Front 17

IF a prior inconsistent statement is hearsay, what will we do with it?

Back 17

Allow it for impeachment, but not for substantive evidence.

Front 18

What is the best evidence rule with regards to a writing, where the terms are material?

Back 18

The original writing must be produced.

Front 19

How far does the marital privilege extend?

Back 19

Its not just statements, communications extends to "information secured by one spouse through observation during the marriage as to the health, or intoxication, habitual or at a particular time, or the mental condition of the other spouse would be protected by theprivilege.

Front 20

When does the marital privilege not extend?

Back 20

1. Prosecutions for crimes committed by one spouse against the other
2. Actions by one spouse against other

Front 21

What happens to 2 people who go see an attorney jointly and later fall out among themselves and become engaged in a controversy in which the communications at their join consultation with the lawyer may be vitally material?

Back 21

No attorney client privilege

Front 22

Is a party's pleading in one case, whether a final one, or one later withdrawn, amended or superseded, freely usable against him as an evidentiray admission in any other litigation?

Back 22

Yes