Evidence myopia: the failure to see the Federal Rules of Evidence as a codification of the common law.

From: William and Mary Law Review | Date: May 1, 1999| Author: Weissenberger, Glen | Copyright information

INTRODUCTION 

   We interpret the legislatively enacted Federal Rules of Evidence as we 
   would any statute.(1)

We live in an "age of statutes."(2) Consequently, when a court encounters a body of rules resulting from a process that concluded with legislation, the court may find it hard to resist the conclusion that the rules are subject to the principles used to interpret statutes. The Supreme Court of the United States is no exception. Describing the Feder...

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