§ 1.05 State Adoption of the Federal Rules

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 1.05 State Adoption of the Federal Rules

Even before Congress adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence in 1975, some states enacted or promulgated evidence rules based on the preliminary or revised drafts of these rules. After the Federal Rules were proposed, a new version of the Uniform Rules of Evidence was promulgated (1974); this version was patterned on the Federal Rules and was revised in 1999. As of today, more than forty-five jurisdictions, including the military, have rules patterned after the Federal Rules.⁶⁶ Most states made changes when adopting the Federal Rules; sometimes the changes were extensive.

Even jurisdictions that did not adopt the Federal Rules in toto have sometimes accepted a single rule as part of that state's common law. For example, in Daye v. Commonwealth,⁶⁷the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court adopted Federal Rule 801(d)(1)(A) (prior inconsistent statements) as a matter of state common law.

As a federal statute not intended to preempt state law, the Federal Rules are not binding on the states. Thus, a state court is not required to interpret a state evidence rule, even one identical to its federal counterpart, in the same way that federal courts construe the federal rule. For example, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc.⁶⁸ That case involved an interpretation of Rule 702, which governs the admissibility of expert testimony. The state court noted that it was "not bound by the United States Supreme Court's non-constitutional construction of the Federal Rules of Evidence when we construe the Arizona Rules of Evidence."⁶⁹ The court also remarked: "Our rules . . . are court-enacted. While the United States Supreme Court considers congressional purpose, this court when construing a rule we have adopted must rely on text and our own intent in adopting or amending the rule in the first instance."⁷⁰

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Notes:

^[66] The California legislature enacted the California Evidence Code, which became effective in 1967. In 1963, Kansas adopted the Uniform Rules of Evidence (1954) with some alterations. The Missouri Constitution prohibits its Supreme Court from adopting rules of evidence. New York has declined to adopt the Federal Rules. Massachusetts has not formally adopted the Federal Rules, but the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law has...