MATTERS NOT REQUIRING PROOF Flashcards
MATTERS NOT REQUIRING PROOF
While the general principle is that all facts in issue or relevant to the issue in a given case must be proved, certain types of evidence are taken to be established without the necessity to adduce facts to proof them. These include judicial notice, admissions, confessions and statutory exemptions.
JACS - Judicial Notice, Admissions, Confessions, Statutory Exemptions
What is judicial notice?
The acceptance by a judicial tribunal of the truth of fact without proof, on the basis that it is within the tribunal’s own knowledge. In essence judicial notice is taken of matters which are so notorious or clearly established that evidence of their existence is unnecessary. E.g. where the date of Ghana’s independence is in issue, a party who wishes to establish the fact need not call a witness to give evidence under oath because this is a matter which judicial notice can be taken of/is obvious and known to everyone.
What can judicial notice be taken of?- Section 9 NRCD 323
Judicial notice can be taken of facts which are
• Generally so known within the territorial jurisdiction of the court (note that this may differ from one region or district or area to the other so that a fact that is notoriously known in Kumasi may not necessarily be known in takoradi)
• so capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned
that the fact is not subject to reasonable dispute. (i.e. it should not be a fact that different people share different ideas or notions)
Nyarko v Republic
In Nyarko v Republic, another condition was added by the court i.e. the court stated inter alia that where a fact was so notorious that judicial notice could be taken of it, evidence to the contrary could be treated as perjury or palpably false. The case involved judicial notice of the fact that Rothmans cigarettes were not locally manufactured at a time that it was generally known that cigarettes were a foreign commodity.
R v Mensa & Others
In R v Mensa & Others, the first appellant was charged with sedition and the 2nd and 3rd appellants with aiding and abetting the commission of sedition. The trial judge took judicial notice of the fact that the economic ills of the country were due to world inflation and consequently held that the document written by J.H. Mensah was seditious. On appeal, the high court per Koranteng J, stated that although world inflation was a matter of public notoriety, the extent to which world inflation affected each country was not a matter of which judicial notice could be taken. One could not make a sweeping statement about world inflation being due to the oil crisis and the extent to which this country has been affected without basing such observation on any evidence.
Judicial notice and personal knowledge
The general rule is that a judge is not permitted to rely on personal knowledge of facts even if they are known to him (Republic v Mensah & others) e.g. the fact that a judge has convicted a person of one crime cannot be used by the judge on another day in a second trial of the same accused person especially if the judge would be drawing the conclusion that because of the first offence, the accused committed the second as well.
See other cases like Cubson v Bon Galahn (hotel case), R v justices (cocoa case),
Judicial notice of historical facts and documents
Also in respect of historical facts and documents, judicial notice may be taken of them save for where the facts in the books disputed. In Hilodgie v George, the supreme court ruled that the court of appeal erred in taking judicial notice of facts in a textbook which had been challenged by other authors and traditional rulers.
NB: judicial notice cannot be taken of the economy of another country
Admissions
It is Voluntary acknowledgment of the existence of facts relevant to an adversary’s case. i.e. the fact or issue have been conceded and hence the court can act on them without proof of the facts constituting the admission. They may be formal (i.e. cannot be contracted by the maker of the admission and are hence conclusive against the person making them) informal admissions (they raise presumptions and hence may be rebutted, contradicted or explained by evidence). Admissions besides being a matter not requiring proof also is an exception to the hearsay rules.
Who can make an admission?
A party himself or by someone in privity of him
Statutory exemptions on requirements of proof
Some statutes provide that certain facts ought to be accepted but the courts and admitted in evidence without the necessity for proof of them, provided some conditions are satisfied. Examples of the statutory exceptions include:
• Official document produced under seal. : where the original or copy of an official document is procured under the seal of that office, the court may admit the document without proof (CI 47 order 38 r 9)
• Deposition offered as evidence, where the deposition signed by a judge, magistrate or court officer is tendered as evidence in court, the court is to admit the deposition without proof.
• Statutory statement signed by a magistrate: a statutory statement produced in the course of a voir dire shall be admitted without proof if signed by the magistrate (State v Banful)
Mnemonic for Judicial Notice
SNNS DARM
Matter - So Notorious as Not to be Subject of Dispute Among Reasonable Men
IAD RASIA
Matter - immediate accurate demonstration or determination
from a Readily-Available Source or Indisputable Accuracy
