Judicial notice is a court’s acceptance of a well-known and indisputable fact without requiring the party relying on the fact to prove it. The doctrine of judicial notice is one of common sense, and is based on the theory that where a fact is well-known in the community—or its existence is easily determined from sources that cannot be reasonably questioned—it would not be a good use of judicial time and resources to require formal proof of the fact in court. A court may take judicial notice of both facts and laws.

In New Hampshire, judicial notice is governed by Rule 201 of the New Hampshire Rules of Evidence. This rule allows courts to take judicial notice of facts that are not subject to reasonable dispute because they are either generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the court or can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned. The court can take judicial notice whether requested by a party or not, and it may do so at any stage of the proceeding. The rule also distinguishes between adjudicative facts and legislative facts, with the former relating to the immediate facts of the case and the latter to more general facts that help the court in determining the law. Additionally, under Rule 202, courts in New Hampshire may take judicial notice of laws, which include statutes, rules, regulations, ordinances, and court decisions. The court must take judicial notice of New Hampshire law and may take judicial notice of federal law and the laws of other states. When a court takes judicial notice of a law, it is not required to be proven as a fact; it is accepted as the legal framework for the case.