As some may recall, last year the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts issued a draft of “rules of evidence” for notice and comment.
As some may not know, this state currently has no codified “Rules of Evidence.” There are fragmentary statutes, and case law, and not as much uniformity as the Federal Rules of Evidence have inspired.
On February 28, 2008 a revised draft was put on the internet, for download and review. This document, at 246 pages is NOT for the faint of heart. Comments are due by the first week of April this year.
On the other hand, this is a once in a lifetime event. Once there are Rules of Evidence, all trial activity will be impacted by them, as well as legal planning.
New Rules of Evidence put out for comment 2 28 08
Link to notice: http://www.mass.gov/courts/sjc…
Link to .pdf of Revised, proposed Rules of Evidence:
http://www.mass.gov/courts/sjc…
So, while this is a specialized issue, not everyone watches the SJC website like I do, and I thought it would be of interest, at least to some.
