RULE 401. TEST FOR RELEVANT EVIDENCE
Effective Date: 3/1/2014
Evidence is relevant if:
(a) it has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence; and
(b) the fact is of consequence in determining the action.
Rule 401 was amended, effective March 1, 2014.
The language of Rule 401 is intended to reflect the realization that stringent legal standards cannot be meaningfully applied to govern determinations of relevancy and, consequently, that the area is one best left to the wide discretion of the trial court.
Rule 401 was amended, effective March 1, 2014, in response to the December 1, 2011, revision of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. There is no intent to change any result in any ruling on evidence admissibility.
SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 26-27, 2012, page 13; April 8, 1976, page 19; October 1, 1975, page 3. Fed.R.Ev. 401; Rule 401, SBAND proposal.