Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania
Entering statues in to evidence
I'm in a mock trial situation right now, and one of the documents in our case
file is a list of applicable statues. In my pre-trial conference the opposing
councel mentioned that she is going to attempt to enter the documents with
the statues on it into evidence. I know that the judge can take judicial notice,
and I'm fine with that, but I have a problem with her actually putting the piece
of paper in evidence, it just doesn't seem right to me, there's something off-
kilter there. Are my odd feelings about this move of hers founded? Is there
anything I can do to object to this entrance of this paper?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Entering statues in to evidence
Generally, the statute itself is not moved into evidnce--it is the law. It is the judge's responsibility to instruct the jury on the applicable law. I have never participated in a trial where the actual "paper statute" was moved into evidence. As for the judge taking judicial notice of the statute, I would stand and stipulate that the statute says what your opponent says it is. Normally, judicial notice is used when a fact is general knowledge. Remember--evidence is comprised of facts--not the law.
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