Bootstrapping Rule Law and Legal Definition
Bootstrapping rule was used in a criminal prosecution for conspiracy, while deciding whether to allow the jury to consider a statement of conspiracy. Moreover, the allegation must be supported by an independent evidence. If an independent evidence can convince the court that a conspiracy existed, only then such a statement can be introduced into trial and heard by the jury.
Allowing such statements of conspiracy to prove the existence of conspiracy was considered similar to bootstrapping. For example, if a person commits three different crimes, the evidence of each crime can only be used for that particular crime. Bootstrapping can also refer to an attempt to gain jurisdiction over a matter that has no jurisdiction through its circuitous relationship to a jurisdictional matter.
