Short Title; Application

(a) Short title. These rules shall be known and may be cited as the Code of Evidence. The Code of Evidence is hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Code.’’ (b) Application of the Code. The Code and the commentary apply to all proceedings in the Superior Court in which facts in dispute are found, except as otherwise provided by the Code, the General Statutes or any Practice Book rule adopted before June 18, 2014, the date on which the Supreme Court adopted the Code. (c) Rules of privilege. Privileges shall apply at all stages of all proceedings in the court. (d) The Code inapplicable. The Code, other than with respect to privileges, does not apply in proceedings such as, but not limited to, the fol- lowing: (1) Proceedings before investigatory grand juries, as provided for in General Statutes §§ 54- 47b through 54-47f. (2) Proceedings involving questions of fact pre- liminary to the determination of the admissibility of evidence as provided in Section 1-3 (a) of the Code. (3) Proceedings involving sentencing. (4) Proceedings involving probation. (5) Proceedings involving small claims matters. (6) Proceedings involving summary contempt. (7) Certain pretrial criminal proceedings in which it has been determined as a matter of statute or decisional law that the rules of evidence do not apply. (Amended Dec. 14, 2017, to take effect Feb. 1, 2018; amended March 29, 2022, to take effect June 13, 2022.) COMMENTARY (b) Application of the Code. When the Code was initially adopted by the judges of the Superior Court in 1999 and then readopted by the Supreme Court in 2014, the adoption included both the rules and the commentary, thereby making both equally applicable. See State v. Pierre, 277 Conn. 42, 60, 890 A.2d 474, cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1197, 126 S. Ct. 2873, 165 L. Ed. 2d 904 (2006). The Code is broadly applicable. The Code applies to all civil and criminal bench or jury trials in the Superior Court. The Probate Assembly adopted Probate Rule 62.1, effective July 1, 2013, making the Code applicable to all issues in which facts are in dispute. The Code applies, for example, to the following proceedings: (1) court-ordered fact-finding proceedings conducted pursu- ant to General Statutes § 52-549n and Practice Book § 23- 53; see General Statutes § 52-549r; (2) probable cause hearings conducted pursuant to General Statutes § 54-46a, excepting certain matters exempted under General Statutes § 54-46a (b); see State v. Conn, 234 Conn. 97, 110, 662 A.2d 68 (1995); In re Ralph M., 211 Conn. 289, 305–306, 559 A.2d 179 (1989); (3) juvenile transfer hearings conducted pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-127 as provided in subsection (b) of that provi- sion; In re Michael B., 36 Conn. App. 364, 381, 650 A.2d 1251 (1994); In re Jose M., 30 Conn. App. 381, 384–85, 620 A.2d 804, cert. denied, 225 Conn. 921, 625 A.2d 821 (1993); (4) juvenile proceedings; however, adoption of subsection (b) is not intended to abrogate the well established rule that the court may relax its strict application of the formal rules of evidence to reflect the informal nature of juvenile proceedings provided the fundamental rights of the parties are preserved; In re Juvenile Appeal (85-2), 3 Conn. App. 184, 190, 485 A.2d 1362 (1986); see Anonymous v. Norton, 168 Conn. 421, 425, 362 A.2d 532, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 925, 96 S. Ct. 294, 46 L. Ed. 2d 268 (1975); Practice Book § 32a-2 (a); and (5) proceedings involving family relations matters enumer- ated under General Statutes § 46b-1. The Code is not intended to apply to matters to which the technical rules of evidence traditionally have not applied. Thus, for example, the Code would be inapplicable to hearings on the issuance of bench warrants of arrest or search warrants conducted pursuant to General Statutes §§ 54-2a and 54-33a, respectively; see State v. DeNegris, 153 Conn. 5, 9, 212 A.2d 894 (1965); State v. Caponigro, 4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 603, 609, 238 A.2d 434 (1967). Matters to which the Code specifically is inapplicable are set forth in subsection (d). (c) Rules of privilege. Subsection (c) addresses the recognition of evidentiary privi- leges only with respect to proceedings in the court. See Article V—Privileges. It does not address the recognition of eviden- tiary privileges in any other proceedings outside the court, whether legislative, administrative or quasi-judicial, in which testimony may be compelled. (d) The Code inapplicable. Subsection (d) specifically states the proceedings to which the Code, other than with respect to evidentiary privileges, is inapplicable. The list is intended to be illustrative rather than exhaustive, and subsection (d) should be read in conjunction with subsection (b) in determining the applicability or inapplica- bility of the Code. The removal of these matters from the purview of the Code generally is supported by case law, the General Statutes or the Practice Book. They include: (1) proceedings before investigatory grand juries; e.g., State v. Avcollie, 188 Conn. 626, 630–31, 453 A.2d 418 (1982), 1 Connecticut Code of Evidence