Rule 201 Judicial Notice of Adjudicative Facts

JurisdictionArizona

(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.

Comment

Paragraph (a) provides that this rule applies only to "adjudicative facts," which are facts relating to the particular case the parties must establish in order to determine their respective rights and liabilities.[1] This rule therefore does not apply to "legislative facts," which are those relevant to legal reasoning and the law-making process, whether in the formulation of policy or legal principle by a trial or appellate court, or in the enactment of a law by the legislature.[2] Paragraph (a) does not prohibit a court from taking judicial notice of legislative facts; it provides only that the provisions of the rule do not apply to that type of facts.

Paragraph (b) permits a trial court to take judicial notice of those facts whose truth a reasonable person would not dispute,[3] which relieves a party from having to present witnesses to prove the obvious. This allows a trial court to take judicial notice of its own records,[4] statutes,[5] legal documents,[6] and the actions of governmental agencies.[7] A trial court may not take judicial notice of matters not generally known or not capable of accurate and ready determination,[8] and may not take judicial notice of matters that are not relevant.[9]

An appellate court may take judicial notice of any fact of which a trial court could take judicial notice, and may do so regardless of whether the trial court was asked to take judicial notice.[10] An appellate court may take judicial notice of its own records and the records of other courts,[11] and the contents and disposition of a file and the allegations in the file, but not the truth of falsity of any allegation except as established by final judgment.[12]

Paragraph (c) allows a court to take judicial notice if it so desires. Paragraph (d) requires the court to take judicial notice when a party so requests and provides the court with the material supporting the truth of the fact.

Paragraph (e) gives a party the right to contest the other party's request that the court take judicial notice.[13] If a court takes judicial notice on its own, a party may contest this action and attempt to persuade the court to reverse itself.

Paragraph (f) provides that the trial court may take judicial notice before, during, and after the trial. It also provides that an appellate court may take judicial notice when the matter is on appeal.[14]

Paragraph (g) differs from the federal rule in that it requires the jurors to accept the facts as conclusive in both civil and criminal cases. Under the federal rule, in civil cases, the jurors must accept as conclusive all facts judicially noticed; in criminal cases, the jurors may accept these facts as conclusive, but are not required to do so.

Cases

Paragraph (a) - Scope of rule.

201.a.010 Adjudicative facts are those that concern the immediate parties; legislative facts are those relating to law and policy.

Aguiar v. Industrial Comm'n, 165 Ariz. 172, 797 P.2d 711 (Ct. App. 1990) (legislature's conclusion that customary occupational stress or exertion can cause a heart attack was a legislative fact, about which expert should not have given an opinion; whether plaintiff's customary occupational stress or exertion caused plaintiff's heart attack was an adjudicative fact, about which expert could have given an opinion).

Paragraph (b) - Kinds of facts.

201.b.010 A trial court may take judicial notice of its own records.

State v. Rushing, 156 Ariz. 1, 749 P.2d 910 (1988) (in determining whether defendant was on release status when he committed offense, trial court took judicial notice of its own records, which revealed that defendant was on probation when he committed offense).

State v. Fuller, 143 Ariz. 571, 694 P.2d 1185 (1985) (when petition to revoke probation and subsequent criminal charges are consolidated before same judge, trial court may take judicial notice of defendant's probation status in imposing sentence under A.R.S. Sec. 13-604.01; court reserves ruling on this question when such information is not consolidated in record before court).

In re Marriage of Kells, 182 Ariz....

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