Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A temporal quality of recency attaching when an act, record, or condition occurs without material delay from the underlying event.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Felicity French testifies at trial that she cannot recall the details of a meeting held six months earlier. Her attorney offers a memo she dictated the day after the meeting. The court admits the memo because it was prepared when the events remained fresh in her memory.
Frank Fisher invokes his right to remain silent during custodial interrogation about a robbery. Officers immediately stop questioning. Three days later they approach him about an unrelated assault, deliver fresh Miranda warnings, and obtain a statement. The statement is admissible.
Farah Fox sees a thief snatch her laptop and run. She immediately gives chase on foot and uses reasonable force to recover the device two blocks away. The force is justified because it occurred on fresh pursuit after the dispossession.
Felipe Figueroa files an antitrust complaint alleging parallel pricing by competitors but provides no direct evidence of agreement. The court takes a fresh look at the pleading requirements and dismisses the complaint for failing to allege plausible conspiracy facts.
Francois Fortier calls 911 while his assailant is still nearby. He describes the attack and points out fresh injuries on his face. The statements are admitted as nontestimonial because they were made during an ongoing emergency.
Forrest Falconer challenges a state court's ruling in federal court. The federal court treats the jurisdictional issue as a fresh proposition and declines to presume jurisdiction over the sovereign state's decision.
The writing must have been made or adopted when the matter was fresh in the witness's memory. The freshness requirement ensures the record accurately captured the witness's knowledge before memory faded.
Supporting sources
Officers must immediately cease questioning, wait a significant period, give fresh Miranda warnings, and limit the new questioning to a different crime. These steps scrupulously honor the original invocation.
Supporting sources
Force is permitted when used immediately or on fresh pursuit after the dispossession. The pursuit must be close in time so that the actor is still recovering the property rather than seeking revenge.
Supporting sources
…basis. A recipient may always submit new evidence, and such submissions may result in additional medical examinations. Such fresh examinations were held in approximately 30% to 40% of the appealed cases in fiscal 1973, either at the reconsideration or evidentiary hearing stage of the administrative process. Staff…