Rule 101. Scope

Alabama Rules of Evidence

Article I. General Provisions

Rule 101.

Scope.

These rules govern proceedings in the courts of the State of Alabama to the extent and

with the exceptions stated in Rule 1101.

Advisory Committee’s Notes

This rule is the same as its federal counterpart except as modified for state application.

As in Fed.R.Evid. 101, it is left for Rule 1101 to specify the courts, proceedings, questions, and

stages of proceedings to which the rules apply in whole or in part. Providing such an initial broad

statement of scope, with a subsequent rule dealing with scope in greater detail, is somewhat

similar to the approach found in Rule 1(a) of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure. That rule, for

example, refers the reader to Ala.R.Civ.P. 81 for a more detailed statement of scope. The purpose

underlying this approach is to avoid discouraging the reader, at the outset of any study of the

rules, with minute scope provisions. See J. Weinstein & M. Berger, 1 Weinstein’s Evidence ¶

101[01], at 101-02 (1980). The intent, except as otherwise provided in Rule 1101, is that the

Alabama Rules of Evidence apply in all courts and proceedings in which the general law of

evidence applied before these Rules were adopted.