Rule 2:401. Definition of “relevant Evidence”

• Library: A Guide to the Rules of Evidence in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2021 Ed.)

Rule 2:401. DEFINITION OF "RELEVANT EVIDENCE"

"Relevant evidence" means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact in issue more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.

NOTES

This Rule of Evidence defines relevance and is consistent with traditional and current case law. See Gamache v. Allen, 268 Va. 222 (2004); McNeir v. Greer-Hale Chinchilla Ranch, 194 Va. 623, 628 (1953). The court used similar language in Hardy v. Commonwealth, 110 Va. 910, 922 (1910): "However remote or insignificant a fact may be, if it tends to establish a probability or improbability of a fact in issue, to make it more or less probable, it is admissible."

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Accord Ravenwood Towers, Inc. v. Woodyard, 244 Va. 51, 56 (1992) (citing cases); see Barkley v. Wallace, 267 Va. 369 (2004) (medical bills...