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Taking Judicial Notice The Acceptance of Alleged Facts As True Without Evidence
What Does It Mean When a Judge Is Taking Judicial Notice of a Fact?
The Principle of Judicial Notice Allows a Judge to Accept a Fact As True Where the Fact Is So Notoriously As True and Uncontroversial That Evidence Is Unnecessary.
Understanding the Principle Known As Taking Judicial Notice Without Evidence of Notoriously Known Truths
Water is wet, the Sun is bright, gasoline is flammable, seasons occur because the Earth is tilted, among other notoriously known facts, rarely require proof by evidence or expert testimony within a legal proceeding. These notoriously known facts are facts for which a court may take judicial notice, meaning accept as true without evidence.
The Law
The circumstances or legal criteria required for a judge to determine that a fact may be deemed true by judicial notice rather than via some form of actual evidence was explained within, among other cases, Taylor v. Hanley Hospitality Inc., 2022 ONCA 376, wherein it was said:
[30] The concept of judicial notice allows a court to receive “facts” that are “so notorious or uncontroversial that evidence of their existence is unnecessary”. This does not allow parties “to put before the court controversial evidence to the prejudice of the opposing party without providing a proper opportunity for its truth to be tested”: Public School Boards’ Assn. of Alberta v. Alberta (Attorney General), 2000 SCC 2, [2000] 1 S.C.R. 44, at para. 5. The threshold for judicial notice is strict since the facts are not proved by evidence under oath nor tested by cross-examination: R. v. Find, 2001 SCC 32, [2001] S.C.R. 863, at para. 48.
Per the Taylor case shown above, a court may take judicial notice and accept a fact as true when the fact is so commonly known and uncontroversial that proof of the fact is unnecessary.
Summary Comment
Taking of judicial notice involves a process by which a court accepts certain facts as true without the need of proof by way of evidence. The taking of judicial notice is a fairly common procedure and involves facts that are commonly known and without any genuine controversy.
