Skip to main content  probative value   The ability of a piece
of evidence to make a relevant disputed point more or less true.
   For example:  In a trial of a defendant for murder, the
defendant's dispute with his neighbor (unrelated to the crime)
has a no probative value because it provides no relevant
information to the trier of the fact.  However, if the
defendant's dispute was with the victim, this has a much higher
probative value as it could be a motive for the murder.
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary  The term
used to describe the weight of evidence submitted to prove
something. Courts may exclude evidence when its probative value
is outweighed by the prejudice the evidence may cause. For
example, a prosecutor in a criminal case may wish to introduce
the previous criminal conduct of a defendant to show a
propensity to commit the crime at issue, but that must be
weighed against the right of the accused to be tried on the
facts of the present case.  Definition provided by Nolo’s Pla