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Miss. R. Evid. 1006

Not legal advice. Verify against official sources before relying on this text in any legal matter.

Rule 1006 Summaries to Prove Content

Article X: Contents of Writings, Recordings, and Photographs

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Rule Text

The proponent may use a summary, chart, or calculation to prove the content of voluminous writings, recordings, or photographs that cannot be conveniently examined in court. The proponent must make the originals or duplicates available for examination or copying, or both, by other parties at a reasonable time and place. And the court may order the proponent to produce them in court.

[Restyled effective July 1, 2016.]

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

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

When a case involves huge amounts of paperwork, like thousands of pages of business records or hours of recordings, it's not practical to make everyone in court read or watch all of it. This rule allows a party to create a summary, chart, or calculation instead. This summary can be used as evidence to show what the full set of documents or recordings actually says, without forcing the judge and jury to sit through all of it.

But there's a catch. Before using a summary this way, the party who made it has to let the other side look at the original documents or recordings. They need to give the other side a fair chance, at a reasonable time and place, to examine the originals or make copies of them. This gives the other party a chance to check that the summary is accurate and fair.

The judge also has the power to order the original documents or recordings brought into court, even if a summary is being used. This gives the court a way to double check things if needed, and makes sure no one can hide behind a summary that might be misleading or incomplete.

Committee Notes

Advisory Committee Historical Note

Effective July 1, 2016, the Rule was amended as part of the general restyling of the Evidence Rules.

Effective June 16, 2016, the “Comment” was retitled “Advisory Committee Note.” Advisory Committee Note

The language of Rule 1006 has been amended as part of the general 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.

This rule represents a change in Mississippi practice. Rule 1006 refers to voluminous writings, as well as recordings and photographs. Under the rule, a summary of the voluminous material is sufficient as admissible evidence. The underlying material need not be introduced simultaneously into evidence as had been the practice in Mississippi. See Crawford v. State, 162 Miss. 158, 138 So. 589 (1932). This Mississippi court has treated the summaries as demonstrative tools rather than as evidence. Rule 1006 provides that the summaries are clearly admissible as evidence, but requires that the underlying material be made available to the other parties for their examination.

[“Advisory Committee Note” substituted for “Comment,” effective June 16, 2016; amended July 1, 2016, to note restyling.]

← Previous Rule 1005: Copies of Public Records to Prove Content Next → Rule 1007: Testimony or Statement of a Party to Prove Content