2013 Massachusetts Guide to Evidence Now Available

The Supreme Judicial Court has announced the release of the 2013 edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence. As you may know, there is no Massachusetts Rules of Evidence in the same way that there exists the Federal Rules of Evidence. Instead, Massachusetts evidence law can be found in various statutes, case decisions, court rules, and other authorities. In 2006, the Supreme Judicial Court established an Advisory Committee to prepare a Massachusetts Guide to Evidence which assembles existing Massachusetts evidence law into a single easy-to-use document. The 2013 edition is the fifth annual edition of the Guide.

The Guide may be accessed for free online at www.mass.gov/courts/sjc/guide-to-evidence, where it can be searched or downloaded as a PDF. Official print versions are available for purchase from the Flaschner Judicial Institute. For more information about the Guide, including developments in the law that have been added to the 2013 Guide, see the SJC Announcement.

Congratulations to the members of the SJC Advisory Committee and its Executive Committee, which includes Appeals Court Judge Marc Kantrowitz (chair), Superior Court Judge David Lowy (editor), and Clerk of the Appeals Court (and former Superior Court law clerk) Joseph F. Stanton (recorder).