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ARTICLE · 28 JUNE 2016

Will The Ancient Document Exception To The Hearsay Rule Become Ancient History?

Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP
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The federal judiciary has proposed amending the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) by abrogating Rule 803(16) regarding the "ancient documents" exception to the hearsay rule...

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Barbara Hopkinson Kelly
Barbara Hopkinson Kelly
Carl Pernicone
Carl Pernicone
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The federal judiciary has proposed amending the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) by abrogating Rule 803(16) regarding the "ancient documents" exception to the hearsay rule (the Rule).

Briefly, FRE Rule 801(c) defines hearsay as "a statement that (1) the declarant does not make while testifying at the current trial or hearing and (2) a party offers in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statement." FRE 802 The Rule Against Hearsay provides that such a statement is not admissible as evidence unless the statement falls into one of the many exceptions to the hearsay rule detailed in the FRE. The ancient document exception set out in the Rule provides one such exception.

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