Rule 401 and 402

Question 1

Rule 402

Answer 1

evidence must be relevant

If evidence is relevant, then must look if other rule prohibits it or will allow it anyway

Question 2

Relevant evidence

Answer 2

evidence having any tendency to make the existence of fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.

Question 3

Rule 401

Answer 3

any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence (probativeness) and the fact is of consequence in determining the action (materiality)

Question 4

Probativeness

Answer 4

evidence must tend to prove or disprove a fact by making it more or less probable than it would be without the evidence

Question 5

Materiality

Answer 5

evidence is material if it bears on a fact of consequence in determining the action

Whether evidence is material turns on what issues are at stake in the proceeding, which often turns on the substantive law of the jurisdiction

Question 6

Fact of consequence (foc)

Answer 6

Example: She said “where’s the body” instead of “he didn’t do it”

→ maybe she knows where the body is → the foc is that he did it