Evidence

This course will survey the common law, state statutory, and federal rules of evidence. The rules, principles behind the rules, and cases interpreting them shall be examined.

The primary focus of this course is on the Federal Rules of Evidence, with comparison to the California Evidence Code in those instances where California law differs from the Federal Rules.

Primary emphasis is on the basic concepts of relevance and prejudice, hearsay and confrontation clause, best evidence, authentication, witness competency, opinion, and impeachment.