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N.D.R.Ev. 605

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

Rule 605 Judge's Competency as a Witness

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Rule Text

The judge presiding at the trial may not testify in that trial as a witness. A party need not object to preserve the issue.

Amendment history: (Adopted Jan. 29, 1976; amended Mar. 1, 2014.)

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

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

Here's a plain English summary:

A judge cannot take the witness stand and testify in a trial they are presiding over. The judge's job is to run the trial fairly, not to give testimony that becomes part of the evidence. This keeps the judge's role separate from the role of witnesses.

If this situation ever came up, a lawyer would not need to formally object to protect their client's rights on this issue. The problem would still count as an error that could be raised later, even without an objection at the time. This rule exists to protect the fairness of the trial and to keep the judge's position neutral and separate from the evidence being presented.

Committee Notes

Rule 605 was amended, effective March 1, 2014.

This rule provides that a judge is wholly incompetent to testify in a trial over which the judge is presiding.

Rule 605 was amended, effective March 1, 2014, in response to the December 1, 2011, revision of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. There is no intent to change any result in any ruling on evidence admissibility.

SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 26-27, 2012, page 23; January 29, 1976, page 12; October 1, 1975, page 4. Fed.R.Ev. 605; Rule 605, SBAND proposal.

STATUTES AFFECTED:

SUPERSEDED: N.D.C.C. § 31-01-10.

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