Federal Rules of Evidence

The Federal Rules of Evidence are the codified rules governing what evidence may be presented and considered in United States federal courts. They were first adopted in 1975, taking effect on January 2, 1975 after President Gerald Ford signed them into law. The rules set the standards under which testimony, documents and other material may be admitted at trial, and they govern both civil and criminal proceedings, structuring what a jury may consider in reaching a verdict. A large number of American states have since adopted the federal rules with their own modifications, or revised their own evidence codes to track the federal framework, so the 1975 rules shaped evidence law well beyond the federal courts they were written for.