RULE 201. JUDICIAL NOTICE OF ADJUDICATIVE FACTS
Effective Date: 3/1/2014
(a) Scope. This rule governs judicial notice of an adjudicative fact only, not a legislative fact.
(b) Kinds of Facts That May Be Judicially Noticed. The court may judicially notice a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute because it:
(1) is generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction; or
(2) can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.
(c) Taking Notice. The court:
(1) may take judicial notice on its own; or
(2) must take judicial notice if a party requests it and the court is supplied with the necessary information.
(d) Timing. The court may take judicial notice at any stage of the proceeding.
(e) Opportunity to Be Heard. On timely request, a party is entitled to be heard on the propriety of taking judicial notice and the nature of the fact to be noticed. If the court takes judicial notice before notifying a party, the party, on request, is still entitled to be heard.
(f) Instructing Jury. The court must instruct the jury to accept as conclusive any fact judicially noticed.
Rule 201 was amended, effective March 1, 2014.
Rule 201 is the only rule dealing with the subject of judicial notice and, by the terms of subdivision (a) is limited in application to the judicial notice of adjudicative facts, i.e., the facts of the particular case before the courts, facts that are normally the subject of proof by formal introduction of evidence. Judicial notice of legislative facts, facts that aid the court in the interpretation and application of law and policy, is not governed by this or any other rule of evidence.
Rule 201 was amended, effective March 1, 2014, in response to the December 1, 2011, revision of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules. There is no intent to change any result in any ruling on evidence admissibility.
SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of January 26-27, 2012, pages 31-32; April 8, 1976, pages 17, 18; October 1, 1975, page 3. Fed.R.Ev. 201; Rule 201(g), Uniform Rules of Evidence (1974);Rule 201, SBAND proposal.
STATUTES AFFECTED:
SUPERSEDED: N.D.C.C. §§ 31-10-01, 31-10-02.
CONSIDERED: N.D.C.C. §§ 28-29-06, 31-10-03, 31-10-04, 31-10-05, 32-25-04, 39-08-01, 40-01-03, 40-18-19.
Cross Reference: N.D.R.Civ.P. 44.1 (Determining Foreign Law); N.D.R.CrimP. 26.1 (Foreign Law Determination).