Exclusionary rule
Definition
A rule that evidence obtained in violation of constitutional or statutory search-and-seizure requirements cannot be used at trial. Applied strictly and automatically in the United States; applied as a discretionary remedy under PACE s.78 in England and Wales; not routinely applied in India under the BSA.
Related terms
- Admissibility
- Whether a piece of evidence is permitted to be placed before the fact-finder at all. Admissibility is a threshold question, decided by...
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 (BSA)
- India's current evidence statute, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872. Section 63 of the BSA governs electronic records and requires a...
- Chain of custody
- The documented chronological record of who collected, handled, transferred, and examined a piece of evidence. For digital evidence, chain of custody includes...
- Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE)
- The rules governing the admission of evidence in US federal courts, adopted in 1975 and regularly amended. Rule 401 defines relevance; Rule...
- Fruit of the poisonous tree
- A US doctrine extending the exclusionary rule: not only is unlawfully obtained evidence itself excluded, but any further evidence discovered as a...
- Plain-view doctrine
- A rule permitting an officer who is lawfully present in a location to seize evidence whose incriminating character is immediately apparent, without...
- Probable cause / reasonable grounds
- The standard of suspicion required before a warrant may issue or a warrantless search may occur. In US law, probable cause requires...
- Probative value
- The strength of the evidence's tendency to prove or disprove a fact in issue. High probative value means the evidence substantially changes...
- Relevance
- The logical quality of evidence that makes a fact in dispute more or less probable. Under FRE Rule 401, evidence is relevant...
- Search warrant
- A judicial order authorising officers to enter and search a specified place and seize specified items. In most systems it must describe...
Explained in these topics
- Relevance and Admissibility: The Two GatesA legal doctrine that bars evidence from trial despite its relevance and probative value. In the US, the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule bars evidence obtai...
- Search, Seizure and the Forensic ExhibitA rule that evidence obtained in violation of constitutional or statutory search-and-seizure requirements cannot be used at trial. Applied strictly and automat...