| Adopted Date: | 01/01/2022 |
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- This page, Supplement to the 2022 Massachusetts Guide to Evidence, is offered by
- Trial Court Law Libraries
- Massachusetts Court System
Guide to Evidence
Guide to Evidence Supplement to the 2022 Massachusetts Guide to Evidence
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Table of Contents
Supplement
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Section |
Text |
| Section 202(c) & Note, Judicial Notice of Law | A court may take judicial notice of municipal ordinances that are publicly available and widely disseminated on the Commonwealth’s official website. City Council of Springfield v. Mayor of Springfield, 489 Mass. 184, 190 n.6 (2022) (signaling reconsideration of rule prohibiting judicial notice of municipal ordinances and bylaws). |
| Section 702, Note, Illustrations – Fingerprints | It is not enough for an expert to avoid testifying that a fingerprint match is one hundred percent certain; the Commonwealth has an affirmative duty to elicit on direct examination the expert’s testimony that the match is an opinion based on the expert’s education, training, and experience. Commonwealth v. Robertson, 489 Mass. 226, 238 (2022) (suggesting prosecutors ask whether witness has an opinion “to a reasonable degree of fingerprint analysis certainty”). |
Contact
Online
Email a reference librarian:
Email Trial Court Law Libraries at masslawlib@gmail.com