RULE 201. JUDICIAL NOTICE OF ADJUDICATIVE FACTS
Effective Date: 4/8/1976
Obsolete Date: 3/1/2014
(a) Scope of Rule. This rule governs only judicial notice of adjudicative facts.
(b) Kinds of Facts. A judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (1) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.
(c) When Discretionary. A court may take judicial notice, whether requested or not.
(d) When Mandatory. A court shall take judicial notice if requested by a party and supplied with the necessary information.
(e) Opportunity to Be Heard. A party is entitled upon timely request to an opportunity to be heard as to the propriety of taking judicial notice and the tenor of the matter noticed. In the absence of prior notification, the request may be made after judicial notice has been taken.
(f) Time of Taking Notice. Judicial notice may be taken at any stage of the proceeding.
(g) Instructing Jury. The court shall 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SUPERSEDED: N.D.C.C. §§ 31-10-01, 31-10-02.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).