Day on Torts
The Federal Rules of Evidence have been "restyled" effective December 1, 2011. The objective was to make the rules simpler to understand and use without substantively changing the meaning.
The Federal Evidence Review has a free PDF that not only contains the new rules but also links to legislative history, links from the index to each rule, the ability to search the rules within the PDF using Adobe’s "search" tool, and other benefits as well.
You can download the PDF here. The old version of the rules may be seen here.
Rule 1005 (Public Records) is a good example of the restyling of the rules. This is the text of former 1005:
The contents of an official record, or of a document authorized to be recorded or filed and actually recorded or filed, including data compilations in any form, if otherwise admissible, may be proved by copy, certified as correct in accordance with rule 902 or testified to be correct by a witness who has compared it with the original. If a copy which complies with the foregoing cannot be obtained by the exercise of reasonable diligence, then other evidence of the contents may be given.
Here is the text of new Rule 1005:
The proponent may use a copy to prove the content of an official record — or of a document that was recorded or filed in a public office as authorized by law — if these conditions are met: the record or document is otherwise admissible; and the copy is certified as correct in accordance with Rule 902(4) or is testified to be correct by a witness who has compared it with the original. If no such copy can be obtained by reasonable diligence, then the proponent may use other evidence to prove the content
Thanks to the Federal Evidence Review for sharing this information.