The Federal Rules of Evidence--Past, Present, and Future: A Twenty-Year Perspective

Authors

Faust Rossi, Cornell Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1995

Keywords

Federal Rules of Evidence, FRE, Expert testimony, Hearsay, Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence

Disciplines

Civil Procedure | Criminal Procedure | Evidence | Judges | Litigation

Abstract

This Essay surveys three major transformations in state and federal rules of evidence since the introduction of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Rules have not only inspired a movement toward codification in the states, they have also liberalized the admission of expert testimony and hearsay. This partially explains thirteen states' reluctance to codify. Judges have furthered this trend by admitting far more discretionary hearsay evidence than Congress intended. Professor Rossi doubts this expansion of the hearsay exceptions would have occurred without the adoption of the FRE and suggests that the newly formed Advisory Committee will produce greater substantive changes in the future.

Recommended Citation

Rossi, Faust, "The Federal Rules of Evidence--Past, Present, and Future: A Twenty-Year Perspective" (1995). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. 1342.
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/1342

Publication Citation

Published in: Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, vol. 28, no. 4 (June 1995).