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Fed. R. Evid. 805

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Rule 805 Hearsay Within Hearsay

HEARSAY

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Rule Text

Hearsay within hearsay is not excluded by the rule against hearsay if each part of the combined statements conforms with an exception to the rule.

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

Sometimes a statement contains two layers of hearsay. For example, a document might quote what someone said, and that person was repeating what they heard from someone else. This is called "hearsay within hearsay" or "double hearsay."

You can still use that kind of statement in court, but only if each layer of hearsay fits its own exception to the hearsay rule. Both the inner statement and the outer statement need a valid reason to be allowed in. If even one layer does not qualify, the whole thing gets kept out.

A common example is a business record that includes a quote from a witness. The business record itself might qualify under one hearsay exception, and the quote inside it might qualify under another. If both parts check out, the evidence comes in.

Summary generated March 09, 2026

Committee Notes

Notes of Advisory Committee on Proposed Rules

On principle it scarcely seems open to doubt that the hearsay rule should not call for exclusion of a hearsay statement which includes a further hearsay statement when both conform to the requirements of a hearsay exception. Thus a hospital record might contain an entry of the patient’s age based on information furnished by his wife. The hospital record would qualify as a regular entry except that the person who furnished the information was not acting in the routine of the business. However, her statement independently qualifies as a statement of pedigree (if she is unavailable) or as a statement made for purposes of diagnosis or treatment, and hence each link in the chain falls under sufficient assurances. Or, further to illustrate, a dying declaration may incorporate a declaration against interest by another declarant. See McCormick § 290, p. 611.

Committee Notes on Rules—2011 Amendment

The language of Rule 805 has been amended as part of the restyling of the Evidence Rules to make them more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. These changes are intended to be stylistic only. There is no intent to change any result in any ruling on evidence admissibility.

(, Jan. 2, 1975, ; Apr. 26, 2011, eff. Dec. 1, 2011.)

← Previous Rule 804: Exceptions to the Rule Against Hearsay—When the Declarant Is Unavailable as a Witness Next → Rule 806: Attacking and Supporting the Declarant’s Credibility