Written by Peter L. Murray
Basic Federal Evidence is intended as a simple handbook and explanation of contemporary American evidence law as embodied in the Federal Rules of Evidence and the application of this law in civil and criminal trials in the United States courts.
The material reflects the author’s more than four decades teaching a law school course in Evidence. It is intended to provide law students and beginning law practitioners with not only information and analysis of the Federal Rules of Evidence, but also with explanations of how evidence questions are raised, argued, and decided in the context of actual trials. Although the volume is organized around the structure of the Federal Rules, the various chapters also contain supplementary and practical information useful to the beginning advocate or law student in dealing with evidence issues as they arise in court.
Finally, the text includes references to the common law as it existed before the Federal Rules for purposes of historical perspective as well as occasional comparative references to English and European evidence regimes.
Preface / Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Evidentiary Screening
Chapter 2 Judicial Notice
Chapter 3 Presumption
Chapter 4 Relevance and Its Limits
Chapter 5 Privileges
Chapter 6 Presentation and Credibility of Witnesses at Trial
Chapter 7 Opinions and Expert Testimony
Chapter 8 The Hearsay Rule and Its Exceptions
Chapter 9 Authentication of Exhibits
Chapter 10 The Best Evidence Rule
Chapter 11 Miscellaneous
Index
Published 2024. ISBN: 979-8-9891722-4-5
Basic Federal Evidence is the product of Peter Murray’s more than 50 years of studying, practicing and teaching Evidence in state and federal courts as well as law school classrooms and advisory committee projects. Over much of this time he was an active trial lawyer in Maine’s state and federal courts. From 1973 to 2010, he was Consultant to the Maine Advisory Committee on Rules of Evidence and was co-author and later sole author of six editions of Maine Evidence. For more than 30 years at Harvard Law School he taught Evidence and served as Director of the Trial Advocacy Workshop. He is a co-author of Green, Nesson and Murray, Problems, Cases and Materials on Evidence, 3rd and 4th editions, as well as Basic Trial Advocacy. Over the last four decades, he has taught and lectured on Evidence, Civil Procedure and Comparative Law in various venues in the United States and abroad and has authored numerous articles on the same topics.
