Relevance (law)

Relevance, in the common law of evidence, is the tendency of a given item of evidence to prove or disprove one of the legal elements of the case, or to have probative value to make one of the elements of the case likelier or not. Probative is a term used in law to signify 'tending to prove.' Probative evidence 'seeks the truth'. Generally in law, evidence that is not probative (doesn't tend to prove the proposition for which it is proffered) is inadmissible and the rules of evidence permit it to be excluded from a proceeding or stricken from the record 'if objected to by opposing counsel.' A balancing test may come into the picture if the value of the evidence needs to be weighed versus its prejudicial nature.'Relevant evidence' means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Evidence is relevant if:Relevancy is not an inherent characteristic of any item of evidence but exists only as a relation between an item of evidence and a matter properly provable in the case.The initial step in determining relevancy is therefore to identify the 'matter properly provable.' As Professor James explained in a highly-regarded article, 'o discover the relevancy of an offered item of evidence one must first discover to what proposition it is supposed to be relevant.'Rule 402. General Admissibility of Relevant EvidenceThe trial judge's discretion to exclude admissible evidence does not extend beyond his duty to ensure that the minds of the jury will not be prejudiced by evidence of little probative value, but of great prejudicial effect. Exclusion of evidence on the ground that, although its probative value was unquestionable, it was obtained by methods which the judge considers to be unfair, has nothing to do with his duty to secure a fair trial for the accused....a judge must determine the value of the evidence based on reliability and the strength of the inference it led to, against the cost presented by such evidence, including things as diverse as the practicalities of its presentation, the fairness to the parties and to witnesses, and the potentially distorting effect the evidence can have on the outcome of the case. Relevance, in the common law of evidence, is the tendency of a given item of evidence to prove or disprove one of the legal elements of the case, or to have probative value to make one of the elements of the case likelier or not. Probative is a term used in law to signify 'tending to prove.' Probative evidence 'seeks the truth'. Generally in law, evidence that is not probative (doesn't tend to prove the proposition for which it is proffered) is inadmissible and the rules of evidence permit it to be excluded from a proceeding or stricken from the record 'if objected to by opposing counsel.' A balancing test may come into the picture if the value of the evidence needs to be weighed versus its prejudicial nature. Until the Federal Rules of Evidence were restyled in 2011, Rule 401 defined relevance as follows: This definition incorporates the requirement that evidence be both material ('of consequence to the determination of the action') and have probative value ('having any tendency to make the existence of any fact...more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence'). The restyled Rule 401, however, separates these traditional concepts in order to make the rule clearer and more easily understood. The amended language essentially rewrites the rule as a test, rather than a definition, for relevance: