The Illinois Rules of Evidence
Gino L. DiVito
Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC, Chicago
Former Illinois Appellate Court Justice
Member, Special Supreme Court Committee on Illinois Evidence
A Comparison with the Federal Rules of Evidence,
And Additional Commentary
This guide begins with the Committee’s general commentary to the rules and provides all of the newly adopted rules – the Illinois Rules of Evidence (IRE) – including the individual comments that the Committee provided for five of the rules. It presents the new rules in a side-by-side comparison with the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE), along with additional relevant commentary. The guide’s goals are to: (1) enable a direct comparison of the two evidence rules; (2) offer commentary concerning the new rules, with relevant case and statutory citations and explanations; (3) point out substantive and non-substantive differences between the federal and the Illinois rules; (4) indicate explicit rejection of certain federal rules or portions of them; and (5) highlight substantive changes from former Illinois evidence law. To achieve these objectives, the guide employs colored highlights:
• Yellow is used for the author’s commentary, in what is a work always in progress.
• Pink is used for comments provided by the Committee for five of the rules.
• Blue underlining is used for differences between the FRE and the IRE that either are not substantive or are substantive but do not change Illinois law.
• Red strikethrough is used to indicate a federal rule or a portion of it that was not adopted.
• Green is used to indicate a substantive change from prior Illinois law, regardless of whether there is a difference between the FRE and the IRE. As stated above, mere differences between the FRE and the IRE – even those that are substantive but do not reflect a change in Illinois law – are shown in blue.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the rules and commentary in the guide are current as of the date stated below. Note that there are minor variations in the various published editions of the Federal Rules of Evidence, mostly in the use of upper or lower case letters in subheadings. This guide follows the Federal Rules of Evidence printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States House of Representatives and dated December 1, 2009, which is currently available on the website of the United States federal courts.
The guide is intended to assist legal practitioners to understand and apply the new rules. It is not a substitute for legal or other professional services. If legal or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent attorney or other professional should be sought.
My partner Daniel Konieczny dedicated many hours and much-needed expertise to the difficult task of formatting these pages. I am deeply grateful for his significant contributions.
As stated above, my commentary is a work always in progress. For that reason, I welcome any comments related to the guide’s accuracy and utility.
Gino L. DiVito
Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC
October 8, 2010
© Copyright 2010 by Gino L. DiVito. All rights reserved.
No copyright is claimed as to the Federal or Illinois Rules of Evidence themselves, any order of the Supreme Court, or the commentary of the Special Supreme Court Committee on Illinois Evidence.