Judicial Notice - National Judicial Institute

Note: Specimen jury instructions serve as a template that trial judges must adapt to the particular circumstances of each trial, not simply read out in whole. They are not designed to be delivered "as-is." More information about the use of specimen instructions is found in the Preface and A Note to Users, which you can find here.

11.29 Judicial Notice

Note[1]

(Last revised June 2012)

[1] Although no one gave evidence about (specify what is judicially noticed), you must treat it as a fact.

[1] It would only be in rare situations that this instruction would be appropriate. A jury should not be instructed to take judicial notice of a fact unless the judge has first given counsel an opportunity, in the absence of the jury, to make submissions about whether judicial notice is appropriate. Judicial notice is the acceptance of a fact without formal proof. It applies to:

(i) facts that are so notorious that they are not the subject of dispute among reasonable persons; and,

(ii) facts that are capable of immediate and accurate demonstration by resorting to readily accessible sources of indisputable accuracy.

See R. v. Williams, [1998] 1 S.C.R. 1128; R. v. Spence, [2005] 3 S.C.R. 458.