Massachusetts Guide to Evidence

NOW AVAILABLE!

2023 Edition/Fifteenth Anniversary Edition

Official Print Edition of the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law

The Flaschner Judicial Institute has once again worked with the Supreme Judicial Court Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law to produce the Official Print Edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence, 2023 Edition. It is the only print edition with the exact same pagination, index and table of authorities as the version all Massachusetts state judges receive.

The Guide assembles existing Massachusetts evidence law in an easy-to-use document organized similarly to the Federal Rules of Evidence, with extensive explanatory notes and citations. Everything in the Guide has been approved by the SJC as a valid statement of Massachusetts evidence law.

Like its predecessors, the 2023 edition of the Guide contains substantive changes to the guidelines as well the accompanying, detailed notes to keep pace with changes in the law at the State and Federal level. The 2023 edition includes substantial revisions to Section 403 (excluding relevant evidence for prejudice, confusion, waste of time, or other reasons); Section 404(b)(2) (prior bad acts); Article V (introductory note on privileges); Section 901 (authentication); Section 1101(c)(3) (probation violation proceedings); Section 1105 (third-party culprit evidence); Section 1106 (abuse prevention and harassment prevention orders); Section 1107 (inadequate police investigations); and Section 1113 (opening statements and closing arguments). The 2023 edition also contains a new Section 1120 that compiles the law concerning courtroom demonstrations, experiments, and computer simulations. The 2023 edition adds forty-five new decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court from 2022, and an additional forty-three appellate court decisions that did not appear in prior editions.

In addition to the substantive changes described above, the 2023 official print edition of the Guide contains a user-friendly index and a table of authorities that includes every case, statute, rule, and publication referenced in the Guide and the specific page or pages where each citation appears.


Publisher: Flaschner Judicial Institute (2023)

Spiral-bound, lay-flat edition: 552 pages

Dimensions: 9 x 11 inches

$99.95 plus shipping


Massachusetts judges who have not received a copy of this benchbook may request a copy:


The SJC Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law makes the Guide available on the court's website.