§ Rule 401. Definition of ''relevant evidence''

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Rule 401. Definition of “relevant evidence”

“Relevant evidence” means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.

Comment: Pa.R.E. 401 is identical to F.R.E. 401. The rule codifies existing Pennsylvania law, as represented by the Supreme Court's definition of relevance in Commonwealth v. Scott, 480 Pa. 50, 54, 389 A.2d 79, 82 (1978): “Evidence which tends to establish some fact material to the case, or which tends to make a fact at issue more or less probable, is relevant.” Whether evidence has a tendency to make a given fact more or less probable is to be determined by the court in the light of reason, experience, scientific principles and the other testimony offered in the case.

The relevance of a piece of evidence may be conditional, or dependent on facts not yet of record. Under Pa.R.E. 104(b), the evidence may be admitted subject to the introduction of further evidence demonstrating that all conditions necessary to a finding of relevance have been met.