Frye Test
Definition
An admissibility standard derived from Frye v United States (DC Cir 1923) requiring that a scientific technique must have gained general acceptance in the relevant scientific community before its results may be admitted in evidence. Still applied in several US states, including California, Florida, Illinois, and New York.
- Origin case
- Frye v United States, DC Cir 1923
- Standard
- General acceptance in the relevant scientific community
- Still used in
- California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, among other US states
- Superseded federally by
- The Daubert standard, 1993
Common questions
Why do some US states still use Frye instead of Daubert?+
Daubert interprets the Federal Rules of Evidence, which bind federal courts and states that have adopted equivalent rules. States that never adopted the federal rules, or that chose to keep their own case law, are free to keep applying Frye's general-acceptance test in their state courts.
Is general acceptance the same as scientific validity?+
Not necessarily. A technique can be widely used within a professional community by convention while still lacking the error-rate testing and peer review that a validity-focused standard like Daubert would require, which is a core criticism levelled at Frye.
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Explained in these topics
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- Expert Evidence and Statistical Interpretation in CourtAn older admissibility standard requiring that a scientific technique be generally accepted by the relevant scientific community. Still used in some US state c...