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 Nevada, judicial notice is governed by the Nevada Rules of Evidence, specifically Rule 201, which aligns with the principles described. The rule allows courts to take judicial notice of facts that are not subject to reasonable dispute because they are either generally known within the court’s territorial jurisdiction or can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned. This includes both adjudicative facts and law. Adjudicative facts are those facts that are typically the subject of investigation in a trial, such as the weather on a particular day or historical events. Laws include statutes, administrative regulations, and court decisions. The court may take judicial notice on its own or at the request of a party. Once a court takes judicial notice of a fact, it is accepted as conclusive in civil cases. In criminal cases, however, the jury is instructed that it may, but is not required to, accept as conclusive any judicially noticed fact.