In a civil case, what instruction must the court give the jury about a noticed fact?

• A. The jury must treat the noticed fact as conclusive in both civil and criminal cases.
• B. In civil cases, the jury must treat the noticed fact as conclusive; in criminal cases, the jury may or may not treat it as conclusive.
• C. The jury may ignore the noticed fact entirely.
• D. The court should instruct that noticed facts have no force.

Answer: (B)

The main concept here is judicial notice and how its effect differs between civil and criminal trials. When the court takes judicial notice of a fact, that fact is treated as proven without the need for evidence. In civil cases, the jury must treat that noticed fact as conclusive—that is, it cannot demand proof or question that fact. In criminal cases, however, the noticed fact is not binding on the jury; the jury may consider it as evidence but is not required to treat it as conclusive. This distinction explains why the instruction in civil cases should tell the jury to accept the noticed fact as conclusive, while in criminal cases the jury may or may not treat it as conclusive.