Established Facts in an ‘Age of Misinformation’

Abstract

Abstract The contemporary significance of the doctrine of judicial notice has been overlooked. As a means of proving fact without hearing evidence, judicial notice has remained relevant vis-à-vis international criminal justice’s crucial objective of trial expediency. However, today’s fragmented information landscape demands a revision of the doctrine’s traditional understanding. This article presents a legal expressivist reading of the key judicial notice decision in Karemera and explores the epistemic potential of judicial notice in an ‘age of misinformation’. It argues that the act of establishing facts of ‘common knowledge’ inevitably elicits dialogue between international criminal tribunals and their relevant audiences. Accordingly, judicial notice is cautiously presented as a promising legal principle that, beyond judicial economy and factual uniformity, may serve a third policy consideration related to broader goals of international criminal justice.