Maryland's Adoption of a Code of Evidence

Abstract

This short paper discusses the history and implications (from a 1994 perspective) of the then newly adopted Maryland Rules of Evidence. result is a code of evidence that is organized and numbered almost identically to the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Uniform Rules of Evidence, so as to facilitate the location, as persuasive authority, of cases in federal and other state jurisdictions construing similar rules. The paper goes on to further explain the derivation of specific rules, and how provisions of the Maryland Rules differ from the Federal Rules, and why the state chose to differ. Also mentioned is how case law affected some differences.